Under the U.S. system, the Government funds R&D for two primary purposes – Government mission needs (e.g. defense, health, safety) and for increasing the knowledge base of science. The Government does not try to commercialize these discoveries, this is the role of the U.S. private sector. Most times this industry development effort is much more costly (and risky) than the original Government investment. In the 1980’s a series of laws were passed by our Congress allowing universities, small businesses, and federal laboratories to own and manage patentable inventions and to partner with U.S. industry to commercialize the results. U.S. law defines a U.S. company as one that makes the resulting product "substantially in the United States of America." These laws not only give incentives to universities and federal laboratories to partner with industry, they also require them to share royalties with their inventors. This insures that in a successful commercialization effort everyone benefits.

A number of universities, both public and private, are associated with corporate incubator sites on or adjacent to their campuses. In theory such incubators are supposed to offer both a commercial outlet for faculty-derived entrepreneurship as well as high-quality proximal academic consultants for those firms initiated by non-faculty. In practice, however, because of limitations on publications, problems with intellectual property ownership, cyclical access to research funding, and restrictions on graduate dissertations, relatively few chemistry faculty actually seek involvement with private companies in such incubators. A discussion of some successes and failures as well as some suggested approaches to enhancing the success rate of venture capital start-ups, will be the subject of this presentation.

10:00 am Intermission

10:15 am   Small business opportunities to obtain research support from federal agencies
Donald Senich, National Science Foundation Arlington VA 22230

The Federal Government has established innovative programs to assist in the technology deployment that is underpinning the technical revolution. Three programs at the National Science Foundation are stimulating and encouraging the partnerships between different sectors of the technology dependent industrial community and the entrepreneurs. The presentation provides a description of three of the most successful programs: (a) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Government -wide program, (b Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Government wide and (c) Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison (GPLDI). An outline of congressional programs will be presented. In addition the Government's new online procurement initiative will be discussed.

Technology transfer has been practiced in the chemical industry for many decades, but during the last 10-15 years the interest and practice have grown tremendously, fueled by changes in legislation and, more recently, by the emphasis on value extraction from assets and the need to increase shareholder value. This paper deals with DuPont's out-licensing philosophy and approaches, describes several case studies and highlights the factors that made these cases successful. Among those factors are: (1) understanding of the Company’s objectives and drivers, (2) having support at all levels of the organization, (3) finding partners with compatible corporate cultures and overlapping technological core competencies, and (4) having interface personnel in place who can deal quickly, openly and knowledgeably around licensing initiatives.

Nevertheless, it may take several years for a company to organize, become known as an active licensee or licensor, and close deals which have significant impact on business performance.