Helge Seetzen is a successful entrepreneur with experience commercializing university technologies. He co-founded two companies, BrightSide Technologies and Sunnybrook Technologies, to develop display technologies from the University of British Columbia. As CTO of BrightSide, he expanded its technology portfolio through university collaborations before it was acquired by Dolby. He now aims to bridge the gap between university research and industry through his new company, TandemLaunch Technologies, which provides funding and resources to help inventors bring their ideas to market.
2. HelgeSeetzen HelgeSeetzen is a successful entrepreneur with deep experience in the multi-media technology space. He has repeatedly built high performance teams in both the start-up and corporate environment. He co-founded Sunnybrook Technologies and later BrightSide Technologies to commercialize display technologies developed at the University of British Columbia. BrightSide was successfully sold to Dolby Laboratories for US$28M at high return to shareholders after having grown to over 30 developers. Known today as local dimming LED TV, BrightSide's high dynamic range (HDR) display received early acclaim such as the Best Buzz Award at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Conference and a "Top 100 Technologies in 2006" rank by Popular Science Magazine. As the Chief Technology Officer of BrightSide he also expanded the company’s technology portfolio to include camera, encoding and additional display solutions through close collaboration with over a dozen international universities. At Dolby he led all cross-functional development activities for Dolby’s first two consumer video products which launched in 2009. In this capacity he built research and engineering departments in Canada and the US, and was closely involved in licensing negotiations with many major consumer electronics manufacturers. Today, millions of LED TVs are sold every year and the underlying technology has become one of the core elements of the display market. Helge's leadership in the technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurial space has been widely recognized through awards such as Business in Vancouver's 40 under Forty award for business accomplishment, the NSERC Innovation Challenge Award for university technology transfer, and a Special Recognition Award from the Society for Information Display. He serves as the Chair for DisplayWeek2010 & 2012 (the largest technical conference on displays) and Publications Chair of the Society for Information Display. He has published over 20 articles and holds 30 US patents with over 30 additional pending US applications. Helge received a B.Sc. in physics and a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary imaging technology (physics, computer science, electrical engineering & psychophysics) from the University of British Columbia. He blogs on Technology Transfer and University Entrepreneurship at www.techentrepreneurship.com 2
4. 4 Bridging the Technology Transfer Gap We bridge the university-industry technology transfer gap. Universities outspent industry by a factor of nearly 4:1 on basic research. In the United States alone, universities invest close to $40 billion per year across all imaginable fields of technology. Add the ever increasing desire to solve immediate social or industrial issues, and the potential for economic impact is tremendous. Unfortunately it is mostly unrealised today. Universities lack the business development, product engineering, and financial resources to truly commercialise their innovations directly. Worse, the university environment creates many barriers to traditional venture investment such as liability concerns, distracted founders and cultural mismatches. The result is a world where our greatest source of innovation is cut off from our economy by a wide chasm. TandemLaunch provides universities and industry with the one-stop solution to cross this chasm.
5. 5 Tech Transfer Gap by the Numbers $12B Industrial basic research (USA, 2008) $39B University basic research (USA, 2008) <10% Global tech from Universities (USA) Universities Lack Key Ingredients for Tech Transfer Success
6. 6 Our Business Model At TandemLaunch we provide a bridge between academic research and the consumer electronics industry - helping both sides to obtain their goals in the most efficient manner possible. Academia is the dominant source of innovation in our world and most researchers aspire to have their inventions used widely in the industry with a fair reward for their contribution. Yet, most universities lack the business development, product engineering, and financial resources to commercialise innovation directly. Large consumer electronics companies have the resources for commercial deployment but, like universities, are forced to maintain a low risk profile which often prevents them from digesting early ideas directly.
7. TandemLaunch Model 7 Ideas Inventors Patents Business Leadership Engineering Resources Industry Connections Space & Equipment Funding Tandem Project (Equity) Exit
8. 8 TandemLaunchTechnologies TandemLaunch Technologies is a turn-key accelerator for multi-media innovation. By providing funding and resources, TandemLaunch enables inventors to bring their ideas to market. TandemLaunch invests up to $1M through a combination of venture funding, at-cost infrastructure and world-class talent. Our rapidly-growing team is composed of 17 people from different professional and cultural backgrounds, including native speakers in French, English and German. The TandemLaunch team can provide inventors with all skill sets necessary for successful technology commercialisation: business development, sales and marketing, project management, product development, and engineering (software, electronics and mechanical).
9. TandemLaunch Snapshot Company Founded in 2010 Canadian Owned Montreal based Business Model Turn-Key Acceleration Investment Resources People Industry Connections Investments $100k-$1M Common Share Excl. License with Option People Total: 20 Helge Seetzen, PhD CEO (Dolby, BrightSide) Martin Girard Sr. Staff Eng. (AutoDesk, Matrox) Craig Hennessey, PhD Staff Eng. (Mirametrix, UBC) Alessandra Glavier Business Manager (Nurun, APN) Strategy Board Lorne Whitehead, PhD 3M Chair & Fmr. Provost, UBC SunCentral, BrightSide, TIR Andre Bazergui, PhD Fmr. CEO PolytechniqueMtl. Fmr. CEO CRIAQ Jim de Wilde, PhD CEO, JdW Ventures Rothman School of Business Technology Video Systems Displays Cameras Video Encoding & Filtering Audio Systems Playback & Capture Sound Encoding & Filtering Interaction Online Media Human Computer Interaction 9