The document describes a valorisation opportunity workshop organized by FITT to help research consortiums identify opportunities to commercialize the results of their publicly-funded research projects. The full-day workshop is guided by business experts and uses a checklist to assess potential commercial applications of the research results. Participants evaluate opportunities for market feasibility, societal impact, and development strategy. The workshops have successfully identified commercialization prospects for four research projects and established plans within the consortiums to further develop the most promising opportunities.

1. Valorisation Opportunity Workshop
FITT
– Fostering Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer –
www.FITT-for-Innovation.eu
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

2. What is Valorisation Opportunity Workshop?
- Programme name: ICON Valorisation Workshop
ICON projects are interdisciplinary collaborative projects between IBBT research
groups and external partners such as companies, governments, non-profit
organizations etc.
- Objective:
detect valorisation opportunities from the research project results and
define a valorisation plan within the consortium
- Target group:
consortium partners of the ICON projects at the end or mid way of the
research project
- Set up:
one day workshop with 1 or 2 participants per consortium partner,
guided by a business school expert
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3. Format of the Workshop
- 4 research projects had been selected on before hand with the help of
the IBBT program managers
- Full day workshop
- consortium partners of collaborative research project (“ICON”) select
people to attend the workshop
- Professional guidance by a business school expert (Dr Simon Mosey -
Nottingham University Business School)
- Follow a prescribed checklist during the workshop
- Objective: detect valorisation opportunities from the research project
results and define a shortlist of opportunities for further elaboration
within the consortium of the research project
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4. Participants to the workshop
- The consortium partners of the collaborative research project (“ICON”)
select people to attend the workshop
- The consortium partners are industry partners and research groups of
IBBT within the research project
- The number of participants is between 10 and 15 persons
- Participants should have by preference some experience with
valorisation of research, but this is not a must
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5. Confidentiality
- Confidentiality is important to have an open and fruitful workshop,
because people bring information and new insights to the workshop
- Participants sign a multi-Party Non Disclosure Agreement before the
start of the workshop
- This MPNDA is also signed by the IBBT tech transfer people and the
business school experts guiding the workshop
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6. Checklist used for workshop (1)
During workshop the coaches use a prefixed checklist to elaborate on the
defined research results and possible valorisation opportunities:
- Impact upon Society
- What is the effect upon people’s welfare?
- Does it meet current laws / regulations?
- What are the safety implications of using or abusing this innovation?
- What will be the impact upon the environment of this innovation in use
or when obsolete?
- Market Attractiveness
- What are the size and dynamics of the potential market?
- How does it compare with the competition?
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7. Checklist used for workshop (2)
- Barriers to Acceptance
- What are the key barriers to acceptance and can they be overcome?
- Feasibility of Concept
- Can it be made and will it work?
- Will it make money?
- Experience & Strategy
- What are the necessary Marketing, Financial, Technical, Management
and Production skills and are they in place?
- Is a new venture appropriate?
- Is a partnership strategy appropriate?
- How will the innovation be distributed?
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8. Workshop conclusions
- At the end of the workshop all possible research results have been
assessed on possible valorisation opportunities
- The brainstorming can also lead to the recognition and definition of
new research opportunities or needs.
- Each valorisation opportunity has been assessed according to the
checklist
- From this list of opportunities a shortlist of 2 to 3 opportunities will be
selected for further elaboration within the consortium or subgroups of
consortium partners into a valorisation plan
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9. Follow up of the workshop
- Follow up of the workshop is crucial
- Consortium partners need to define a valorisation plan for each
selected valorisation opportunity
- Further investigation into market, technological feasibility, impact on
society and business strategy is required
- This needs to be incorporated in the further development of the
research project
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10. Who is involved in the workshop?
- Consortium partners from industry, profit, non profit, public
organisations and involved IBBT research group experts
- IBBT technology transfer staff and program managers
- Business school experts
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11. When and where is the workshop?
- 4 Workshops have been organised during the end of December 2009
and the beginning of 2011
- All workshops took place at the premises of IBBT
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12. Pro’s and Con’s
PROs CONs
• •
The workshop format fits with the core business of confidentiality remains an issue even with a Multi-
the research institute: e.g. translating research into party NDA when it comes to discussing possible
marketable results market opportunities
•
The workshop format is simple for participants and the approach has a open innovation characteristic
the professional coaching helps to define quite a but this is not always followed or desired by
number of valuable valorisation opportunities participants
• •
The offer shows the ambition of IBBT to support the Follow up is crucial if you want that market
partners to translate research into marketable opportunities are further elaborated within the
results consortium or by one or more consortium partners
•
The workshop format can easily be copied to other
research projects and integrated within the
research project itself
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13. Why do this kind of workshop?
- In the context of IBBT as a Strategic Research Center it is crucial to
bridge the demand driven research projects funded by IBBT and the
possible output in terms of marketable results within a horizon of 2 to 5
years
- This workshop format supports consortium partners to discuss about
research findings in a structured and confidential way and to align on a
number of market opportunities
- This workshop also helps to introduce a more open innovation
approach on the conception and further development of valorisation
opportunities that otherwise would never (or less possible) have been
pursued.
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14. Impact and outcome of program
- 4 workshops have been organized on 4 preselected high potential IBBT
research projects: Hi-Masquerade, Share4Health, Teleclassing and
Cupid
- Consortium partners were informed about the setup and objective of
the workshop on beforehand
- All workshops have been fruitful in detecting and shortlisting market
opportunities
- Further elaboration of valorisation opportunities was foreseen within
the research project
- IBBT partners recognize IBBT as a partner for valorisation
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15. Lessons Learned
- The concept of a valorisation workshop fits very well with the core
business of IBBT, translating demand driven collaborative research
into marketable products or services.
- This exercise helps the consortium to align on valorisation tracks and
define together a valorisation plan with clearly identified and prioritised
valorisation projects
- This exercise can be integrated as a midterm evaluation milestone of
any ICON project. It clearly helps to align all consortium partners to the
same use cases.
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16. Suggested Readings
Link to bibliography
Responsible Partnering. Joining Forces in a World of Open Innovation. A Guide to Better Practices
for Collaborative Research and Knowledge Transfer between Science and Industry, EUA, ProTon
Europe, EARTO, EIRMA, 2005 http://www.responsible-partnering.org/library/rp-2005-v1.pdf
Link to glossary
technology transfer office; positioning; awareness; community; collaboration; partnership;
interaction
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