The last 20 meters...it could be a worthy pursue

Hi Friends,

I met up with some entrepreneurs recently and one of the interesting topics that we dwell upon was in regards to the commercialization of the innovation and invention from researchers in universities and institutions. It is not a new phenomenon that many pieces of innovative work gets established and patented but not many are being taken to finish the course, of having it commercialised. In a way it is such a waste as certainly there could be a number of them that could be beneficial to the economic and social well being of a nation.

There are a number of reasons as to why these innovation had stayed at the patent level. Among them are due to the mindset of the researcher that their primary role is just to discover and impart those new found knowledge. They do not see the need beyond that. They may have little exposure to the commercialization aspect of it and how it should be done. Their career path could hinges on the number of patents being registered (and not necessarily commercialised). There are also some who wish to have their innovation commercialise but may faced with certain roadblocks like financing or find the whole commercial aspect of it a task too daunting to handle. Other contributory factors could be due to the research being too much towards a pure research and not applied research. In fact one of the very key success factors is to develop strong linkage between the researchers and industry so that the potential market needs can be better gauge. There are many neat inventions out there but one would wonder how many of them are with real commercial substance, created with real voice (though could be flimsy initially) of the potential customers. Otherwise many of these inventions are purely paper assets and not realised assets.

Researchers (beside those who focuses on pure research which have its own purpose and intent)who have their invention built should endeavour to finish the last 20 meters (of the 100 meters race) to commercialise it, hence realising the benefits of it. To take an invention, beyond prototype to the next stage requires a great need to listen to the Voice Of Potential Customers (VOPC). There are various ways to do that but one need to listen...what is the voice of the potential customers saying?.....what is their pain point?...how painful is it?....is your invention the solution?


Looking Out:

1. Social games developer who wish to learn how to commercialise their development

2. Social philanthropy - Willing volunteers who wish to share their thoughts on Cloud computing for a school project


Catch up the next time,
KH