Commercialization of research results requires a structured process where management plays a major role in making sure that all prerequisites are in place. A large body of knowledge exists that has its origin in industry. This knowledge however provides an excellent inspiration for improving commercialization of research results in academic organizations.
One of the very first steps towards innovation is the identification and analysis of opportunities. The challenge here is to predict future needs. The most accessible and used means that the Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology has to its disposal to monitor developments in technology are screening scientific literature, patent databases, and participation in conferences and exhibitions. Although these means may identify technology trends that DTU Nanotech can capitalize upon it can also be argued that these means reflect developments in the past. No doubt this has resulted in an innovation approach that can be characterized as “Technology Push”, i.e. projects where the idea and opportunity for a project arose from a technological development (or in plain terms “Solutions in search of a problem”).
Through establishment of the Innovation, Communication and Funding Support group (FICS) and collaboration with venture catalyst company Ventac Partners, DTU Nanotech has started to employ means to identify and analyse innovation opportunities that are less traditional for academic organisations, e.g. road mapping, scenario planning, technology trend analysis, customer trend analysis, competitive intelligence analysis, and market research. Through these means we want to strengthen a “Technology Pull” approach where projects result from engaging in a dialogue with industry to identify specific problems that can be solved with technology developed at DTU Nanotech. Our ultimate aim is to balance “Technology Push” (i.e. research driven) with “Technology Pull” (i.e. market driven). The way to achieve such a balance is by ensuring a steady stream of ideas and carefully selecting those ideas that provide the basis for a balanced research portfolio.
DTU Nanotech's ultimate aim is to provide the basis for one start-up company every year.
Over the past decade DTU Nanotech has started 12 new companies, 10 of which remain active (in alphabetical order):
Furthermore, DTU Nanotech's engagement with existing companies has yielded next generation products: