Exploitation of research results

Transcription

1 Exploitation of research results 5th November 2015 TAFTIE webinar

2 META GROUP META Group is active on regional, national and global levels in the fields of: - Support and training towards research results commercialisation - Start-up and spin-of creation - Setting up novel financial mechanisms to support knowledge-based companies

3 ESIC2 Exploitation Strategy and Innovation Consultants (ESIC) is an initiative of the European Commission s DG Research and Innovation to support projects in the Key Enabling Technologies (NMP) in addressing non-technological exploitation issues and to enhance the positive impact of projects in terms of exploitation and innovation through tailored assistance to projects. ESIC covers the following services: Project Risk Analysis (PRA) Exploitation Strategy Seminars (ESS) Business Plan Development (BPD) Assistance for Patenting Assistance for Standardisation Ad hoc services, e.g. attending a project meeting +360 services contracted, results (KER) analysed

4 HORIZON 2020 Why exploitation planning is a must?

5 PROJECT S EVALUATION CRITERIA EXPLOITATION IN H2020 Excellence Impact (more emphasis in H2020 compared to FP7) Quality and efficiency of the implementation All the same weight!

6 Impact The extent of the benefits derived from the innovation H2020 Evaluation Criteria: The extent to which the outputs of the project should contribute at the European and/or International level to the expected impacts listed in the work programme under the relevant topic.

7 General obligation to exploit Each beneficiary must up to four years after the project completion, take measures aiming to ensure exploitation of its results (either directly or indirectly, in particular through transfer or licensing by: (a) using them in further research activities (outside the action); (b) developing, creating or marketing a product or process; (c) creating and providing a service, or (d) using them in standardization activities.

8 BUSINESS PLANING A business plan is referred to in the proposal template technical annex: 2.2. Measures to maximise impact, a) Dissemination and exploitation of results: Provide a draft plan for the dissemination and exploitation of the project's results (unless the work programme topic explicitly states that such a plan is not required). For innovation actions describe a credible path to deliver the innovations to the market.

9 BUSINESS PLAN COMPONENTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL EXPLOITATION

10 Business plan The business plan in this outline of a proposal context should describe: how the consortium intends to use results of activities carried out during the project, such as further research activities or developing, creating and marketing a product or process, or providing a service. The actual structure is left to the proposers. The outlined plans should be appropriate to the scale and development status/ Technology Readiness Level of the project and provide also information on how the planned exploitable results contribute to the business and growth strategy of the different partners

11 When to prepare the Business Plan The Business Plan should be prepared when: OYou need to plan or analyse or review the exploitation strategy or activities OYou need to present your business proposition to external people (investors, partners, ect)

12 Business plan It typically includes description of further elements: What is the main outcome of the project? Define the exact product/technology or service; Description of the market; Who is the legal owner of the research results? What are the commercialization strategy options/plans? (IP selling, license agreement, spinoff/start-up establishment, own production, own distribution); Which is the most useful and potential strategy of the mentioned options?

13 Product/service Novel solution Benefits of the research produced Scalability (further developments) Level of transferability / adoption by market IPR management Description and definition of the portfolio product/services (technical characteristics, competitive advantages, benefits for the clients ) Applications and possible extensions of the portfolio State of actual development (in the case in which the technology must still be developed it is necessary to detail the development plan) Existence of marks and patents (IP ownership, IP dependency etc, condition of licensing, IPcoverage )

14 Market the potential geographical and economic size of the market, market trends, main competitors and competitive advantage need to be addressed. What is the potential market size for the product/service? (e.g., calculation derived from number of target customers, units sold, value of sales) What is the expected market growth and which major factors influence that growth? Who are the likely competitors? What do they offer? What are the strengths and weaknesses of competitors? What is your competitive positioning vis-à-vis competitors? Motivate why you consider the market of reference attractive also showing the critical aspects of it (synthetic)

15 Demand analysis (customers) Analysis of customers purchase decision making process (key drivers) Quantitative elements: how many (to quantify the production volume), where, how and why (to define the marketing strategy) customers buy? Qualitative elements: when customers perceive the purchase need for the product/service, how to fulfill such need, how this need is fulfilled now, which characteristics customers expect from the product/service and which of them influence customers purchase process

16 Exploitation team During the starting phase the true asset of the company is the exploitation team, the staff. Therefore it is fundamental to have a description of the involved persons with a clear assignment of the roles and the motivation of the staff to participate to the exploitation process. In particular, it must be highlighted: The key persons : the roles of the entrepreneur and of the persons responsible of the various areas must be identified; for each one it must be included a short curriculum vitae with the main experiences and the activities undertaken Expectations/motivations I invest in people, not ideas. If you can find good people, if they re wrong about the product, they ll make a switch Arthur Rock, Venture Capitalist

17 Business model How to generate value The plan implemented by a company to generate revenue and make a profit from operations A business model can be simple or very complex. Example: a restaurant's business model is to make money by cooking and serving food to hungry customers. A website's business model might not be so clear, as there are many ways in which these types of companies can generate revenue. For example, some make money (or try to) by providing a free service and then selling advertising to other companies, while others might sell a product or service directly to online customers.

18 Financial projections The definition of the economic and financial aspects linked to the project has the objective to illustrate the impact of the strategic choices and to check the profitability of the initiative Revenues and costs forecasts Investment needed for covering the costs Funding strategies (including internal sources, loans, equity, public support through for example ESIF 1, national programmes etc., complementary or parallel projects)

19 Commercialization roadmap the steps planned before the product is ready for the market (i.e. proof of concept, prototyping, demonstrations of technological performance and cost effectiveness field trials, pilots, validation and standardisation issues, regulatory requirements, barriers and how o overcome them);

20 Technological risks Market risks Partnership risks Legal risks Management risks Environmental/regulation/safety risks: Risk assessment

21 Review of Product/service Review of Market Review of the exploitation team Review of Business Model Review of Financial Forecasts Review of Action plan Final check

22 Frequent errors Weak credibility of the idea or project Not sustainable business model Not appealing market Absence of a competitive advantage with respect to the competitors Team not well identified Low clarity/lack of reliability Over estimation of the idea

23 The Lean methodology for business planning experimentation rather than elaborate planning, customer feedback rather than assumptions, and iterative development rather than traditional up-front development

24 Validate initial business and technical assumptions together with perspective clients upon real market and regulatory conditions

25 The objective for experimentations, iterations & learning is to guide new ventures to only launch products that customers actually want and to discover a business model that works before running out of money & time. And then scale it.

26 The business model or the scaling of a business should not be based on assumptions but instead be built on tested hypotheses and validated learning

27 Questioning the assumptions Is the problem worth solving? Who s problem is being solved? Does anyone care about the solution? Will the customers buy the solution? How are the target customers solving the problem now? How will the startup grow? What is the unit cost model? What is the unit revenue model? What are the acquisition costs per customer? What channels will be used to get to customers? What is the startup s unfair advantage that cannot be easily copied or bought?

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29 Continuous cycle The business plan can be refined, detailed and further developed during the project duration.

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