Attendees broke into teams for an exercise during the CCTS Technology and Commercialization Pop-Up Course held at Auburn University on September 26, 2018.More than 30 faculty, postdocs, and students participated in our most recent pop-up course, conducted at Auburn University on Wednesday, September 26, 2018. The course was led by CCTS Executive Council Member and UAB Collat School of Business Associate Dean for Research, Innovation, and Faculty Success Dr. Molly Wasko; Auburn Site Lead and Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Donnellan & Family Endowed Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Director, Auburn University MRI Research Center Dr. Thomas Denney Jr.; Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship Managing Director and Raymond J. Harbert College of Business Associate Professor Dr. LaKami Baker; and Biological Sciences Professor Dr. Mark Liles.
Participants learned how to determine the commercial viability of their innovations, develop a successful business case for securing funding and attracting collaborators, and apply to NIH for an SBIR grant. They represented a wide range of disciplines—including engineering, pharmacy, veterinarian medicine, human sciences, biosystems, architecture, design and construction, and liberal arts—and career levels, including a few enterprising undergraduate engineering students.
A key take-away message was “get out of the building” to connect with potential customers, find collaborators, better understand institutional commercialization processes, and avoid wasting time and resources.The free half-day session introduced attendees to the Lean Startup Methodology championed by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) I-Corps™ program, which takes a scientific approach to business planning. Presenters led the audience through exercises in generating hypotheses about the commercial viability of products and developing and practicing their pitch to potential customers.
CCTS will travel next to New Orleans on Wednesday, November 28, to conduct a technology and commercialization pop-up for faculty, postdocs, and students at several Partner Network institutions: LSUHSC, PBRC, and Tulane. Stay tuned to CCTS Digest and our Events page for a link to register for the half-day training, coming soon.