It’s an old story. Person with an expertise meets person with another expertise. Cue the orchestra’s string section.
Edison Electric Light Co. was born out of the partnership between
Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan. Sergey Brin’s interest in data mining and
Larry Page’s interest in ranking the value of information bore Google.
Jim Henson had the puppets, Joan Ganz Cooney had the television network
and we got Sesame Street.
It’s a story we all know. But let’s talk about how partnerships,
specifically between open innovation and tech transfer, can work for
you.
Here’s Fuentek senior tech transfer consultant Dr. Nannette Stangle-Castor’s pitch
for the marriage of open innovation and tech transfer: “I truly
believe it is through the combining of diverse interests and
capabilities that meaningful innovations are developed and important
impacts can occur.”
Tim Minshall at the Open Innovation Blog makes a similar argument: “Bringing together start-ups and established firms in mutually beneficial partnerships seems an obvious solution.”
But both warn that successful partnerships aren’t always easy. Here
are some strategies to maximize your success at building effective
relationships:
Be selective. If you do decide that investing in a
partnership is right for your organization, you must then decide where
to invest. Everyone’s resources are limited, especially in today’s
environment. That means you need to be selective in the partnerships you
pursue.
Think long-term. Stangle-Castor offers this
proposition: Would you rather invest in a “partnership with a quick,
sizable payoff but then is done in 6 months with little potential for
follow-on work,” or would you rather pursue a “deal whose near-term
impact is small but where the value of the partnership will grow over
time?”
Make a realistic assessment. If you’re on the
start-up side, assess the readiness of your technology – realistically.
Identify tasks and costs associated with production. This assessment
will be key in the pursuit of partnerships, as well as the efficient
management of those partnerships.
Create a roadmap. Start-ups often want to pursue
multiple applications of its technology. Because of this, the start-up
should map out those applications and the needed resources, and the
established organization should map its capabilities and needs.
Start small. It may be useful for both the start-up
and the large firm to work on a small-scale project first. This lets
both sides learn how the other operates, allowing for a more productive
partnership down the road.
Stay in touch. Keep continual contact; don’t wait
until there’s a problem. The large firm should be sure to keep the
start-up informed. And the start-up should make sure to attend relevant
internal meetings.
It’s not magic. Open innovation, like everything
else, is a decision. Stangle-Castor gives this advice: Think about “when
to in-license and when your own technology is the best starting point,
when to collaborate and when to go it alone, when to use a tool like
crowdsourcing and when a more active approach to finding tech solutions
is warranted.”