Commercialization

New York Times bestselling author, Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, is NCTI’s featured Innovator. Find out how can AT entrepreneurs make their visions more concrete and real for users.

Jim Fruchterman’s model for Benetech, a leading solution representing socially motivated technology applications, is a visionary example of leveraging the power of the social network to enhance lives. As a leading social entrepreneur and technology developer, Jim highlighted his experiences in creating ground-breaking solutions that allow all individuals to achieve equality in society.

The Industry Profile on Education Technology: Learning Disabilities Technologies and Markets, produced by T2RERC at the University at Buffalo, provides an overview of the current state of the education technology industry as it relates to students with learning disabilities.

Wharton Business Technology Conference 2008
Many innovators focus on the technologies that they can contribute toward improving the lives of individuals with disabilities. But to realize this noble aim, the most successful innovators also think about supply and demand — the principles of monetizing their innovation.
This year the Wharton School of Business dedicated their technology conference [...]

According to the Uniform Trade Secret Act (UTSA), which most states have adopted in some form: “Trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program device, method, technique, or process.

Find information on patents, copyrights, and trademark laws and regulations in an easy-to-understand format and language.

Your ownership rights as a creator: copyright, licenses, and how digital rights management protects rights. Find answers to your questions.

Not all IP protections are complicated. An effective and low-cost option is simply not to reveal unique aspects about your product idea. Trade secrets protect proprietary information because they are never divulged outside of the company which uses them.

Now that you have taken steps to establish ownership of your technology idea, you will need to decide how to protect your technology innovation. If the university holds the IP, it will be up to them to pursue protection of the innovative idea/prototype.

A patent is defined as a grant by the United States federal government that permits its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling a claimed invention (United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2003). A patent does not give the owner the right to make, use, or sell his invention, nor does the issuance of a patent imply that there is a market for the device. A patent represents a judgment made by the USPTO that your invention is new and unique.

The owner of intellectual property often looks for others to commercialize his or her technology. Licensing refers to a situation in which a business partner or company may produce a product developed for a specific period of time. The licensing agreement is an agreement wherein the owner of the intellectual property waives their right to sue the licensor for patent infringement under specified the terms.

Bringing technology innovations to market is a complex process, much of which may be unfamiliar to researchers and developers in the field of education. Commercializing an idea raises new issues, especially the importance of identifying and protecting the intellectual property of your original idea.

Addressing ownership issues regarding your idea as early as possible will help you avoid problems later in the development process. It is imperative to determine the ownership of the idea by the time you have developed your prototype device. For the purposes of our discussion, we will address issues faces by funded researchers/developers (e.g., agencies such as OSERS and NIH, or universities).

Although intellectual property ownership can be established at anytime during the commercialization process, the earlier you address it, the better. The following steps will help ensure that your intellectual property is sufficiently documented and protected from the beginning of the development process.

Copyright is commonly used as protection for educational materials, including the development of software applications for student with disabilities. Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including books, music, graphics, dramatic works, and software programs.

Before deciding whether to secure a patent, you must complete a series of steps, which the corporate and legal world calls due diligence. To perform your due diligence in the patent application process you must first conduct a preliminary patent search. Both the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Delphion have excellent Web sites with search engines for performing this task.

Developers offer a host of innovative, feature-rich products, but offerings may be too complex for classroom adoption. The relentless pace of technology innovation provides increasing possibilities for new features and affordability of innovative applications and devices.

See the full Moving Toward Solutions: Assistive and Learning Technology for All Students report reflecting these ideas.
Key Finding from the NCTI Moving Toward Solutions Report
The assistive and learning technology field lacks a recognized independent advocate, information broker, and unifying voice. The needs of the assistive and learning technology field, research, development, funding, implementation, and marketplace, [...]

cnet News: SAN FRANCISCO–Marketers convened here this week to figure out how best to reach teens on the Internet. The answer: It’s all about the mobile phone.

Education Week’s Digital Directions:  As the movement for “open” education resources continues to grow, encouraging educators to share online curricula and materials­ for free, it’s become vital for ed-tech leaders and classroom teachers to understand the different types of licenses that make the process legal and safe. …

This listing published by the Berkeley Digital Library lists a number of useful links to sites and articles on each of the topics listed in its title.

One of the important aspects of the commercialization of AT and AT-like technologies is the transfer into other general or niche markets. This article outlines Wisper Technology, LLP’s efforts to utilize speech recognition specifically for the medical field – an example of transfer that is being approached by many companies.

This Washington Post article introduces and discusses the Patent Office’s first call for online patent applications beginning March, 2007.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, this report includes substantial information about AT markets and future potential, total sales and revenues in the industry, manufacturing and design information, financing, regulation, specific industry recommendations, and many other essential topics.

This article outlines Wisper Technology, LLP’s efforts to utilize speech recognition specifically for the medical field – an example of transfer that is being approached by many companies.

Patents are supposed to give inventors an incentive to create things that spur economic growth. For some companies, especially in the pharmaceutical business, patents do just that by allowing them to pull in billions in profits from brand-name, blockbuster drugs. But for most public companies, patents don’t pay off, say a couple of researchers who have crunched the numbers. . . . The New York Times reports.

Who owns a bright idea? If the technology associated with an idea is new and the opportunities it offers are valuable, it will have many authors — most of whom may argue over ownership . . . The New York Times reports.

A study by the Communications Workers of America finds that the U.S. has slower internet speed than 16 other industrialized nations. Slower internet speed could negatively affect innovation in the country, says the union, and it recommends a national policy to address the problem.

Apple’s new App Store offers over 1000 free and paid iPhone applications ready to download.

This 2002 article published on a Microsoft webpage indicates the critical nature of regulation, in this case Section 508, in research and development for accessibilty products.
Beruhmte casino.

An online PowerPoint presentation by Al Poskanzer, Ph.D. of Poskanzer & Associates that offers useful visual flowcharts of the commercialization and marketing of technology processes and information on licensing, market assessment, and other topics.

This free online book was developed by the National Research Council to respond to requests of several federal agencies to disseminate information on mentoring, career satisfaction, work activities, and other statistical information on female engineers in academia.

MentorNet is an organization supporting diversity in engineering and science through mentorship and other resources such as a resume database.

BitLaw is a commercial website offering information on patent law, licensing, trademark law, internet law, legal resources, copyright law, software patenting, and other technology oriented legal matters. It includes examples and essential components of forms and contracts.

The New York State Technology and Science Law Center (NYSTAR), affiliated with the Syracuse University College of Law, produced this excellent guide to the specific commercialization of technology products and the use of the Internet as a research tool to support entrepreneurship. The guide contains sections on performing market analyses, producing Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRDA’s), obtaining venture capital, intellectual property rights, regulations under a variety of governmental and international agencies, and other critical topics.

This listing, published by the Berkely Digital Library, lists a number of useful links to sites and articles in each of the topics listed in the title.

This September, 2007 article reviews the ability to collect royalties down a chain in the manufacturing process in a case that could have “far-reaching ramifications for computer makers and other industries with global supply chains.” Other articles tracking the case should be investigated as the matter unfolds.

This article from American Medical News, the online newspaper of the American Medical Association, indicates that the figure of 40 million Americans with disabilities is likely to increase significantly in the future due to various factors. This may indicate a need for increased technological support and larger assistive markets, as well as a need for services that reduce the likelihood of developing disability.

A free resource, My Own Business is a non-profit on-line resource. Anyone can take advantage of its 12 sequential tutorial sessions, business plan examples and templates, quizzes and sound bytes without logging in. The basic course, Getting Started, includes on-line classes in Deciding on a Business, Business Plan, How to Finance Your Business, and other [...]

Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) represent a national network of more than 100 educational resource centers designed to assist women start and grow small businesses. WBCs operate with the mission to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs. The SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO) Entrepreneurial Development site has links to women’s resources, success stories, [...]

Score is a “nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneurial education and the formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. SCORE’s 10,500 retired and working volunteers provide free business counseling and advice as a public service.” Among the services it provides are: an “A sk SCORE” email-advice connection; face-to-face business counseling and low-cost workshops at 389 [...]

The Small Business Administration website offers basics and a great orientation. Summaries include Startup Basics, Business Planning, Financing, Marketing, Employees, Taxes, Legal Aspects, and Special Interest topics. The SBA offers related training, as well: online courses, national trainings (click on a map for the calendar of trainings nearest you), a library, and online college and [...]