Innovation Commercialization in a Rural Region: The Case of Greater Johnstown, Pennsylvania (cont.)

The plan

The GJKIZ seeks to develop an entrepreneurial culture in a region that was once dominated by a single industry – steel – by targeting four industry sectors that have experienced rapid growth in the region in recent years: advanced manufacturing, environmental/energy technology, information systems/technology, and life sciences.

The first phase of this effort was to pilot the GJKIZ’s plan by working with one of the private R&D organizations in the region, the Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically Under-Served Areas (CERMUSA), located on the campus of St. Francis University. The plan was to develop a system to identify opportunities with commercial potential, profile the entrepreneurial skills and experience needed to capture these market opportunities, then recruit entrepreneurs capable of taking the respective opportunities to market.

CERMUSA was selected as the test bed for the GJKIZ’s approach to innovation commercialization because of its international reputation as a high-quality research lab in its field, the relevance of its work to the region’s industry sectors of interest, its sizeable inventory of technology innovations that had not yet been successfully taken to market, and its location on the St. Francis campus and close university ties.

The process

The first step was to establish a set of criteria for evaluating commercialization opportunities (e.g., a clear set of customers with the ability to buy the offering, investment required, potential rate of return and immediacy of revenue stream, etc.). Once these were established, a team reviewed a portfolio of CERMUSA’s innovation activities, from which eight potentially viable market opportunities were identified for further exploration.

CERMUSA then hired a student intern – an incoming student to St. Francis University’s MBA program – to conduct a market feasibility analysis on each opportunity. The student produced a two-page summary of each market opportunity (with additional documentation), which was reviewed by the participants in several rounds as more detailed research was done.

After sufficient research, a meeting was convened to evaluate and prioritize all eight opportunities and to determine which ones to pursue. Although all eight looked promising under different conditions, one market opportunity was selected to be the primary focus of the project’s commercialization effort.

The next step in the process, which is currently underway, is to find a local entrepreneur to lead the commercialization of the selected opportunity. Taking each idea to market will involve, among other things, arranging a deal to spin out the opportunity while maintaining a relationship with CERMUSA.

Once these arrangements have been made, the entrepreneur will prepare a business plan with assistance from the local Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Ongoing support in obtaining contracts, seed money, etc. will be provided by stakeholders in the region. Using the tools of the Entrepreneurial League System®, the entrepreneur’s skill level will be assessed and initial assistance will be tailored accordingly.

Using this test case, the GJKIZ will develop a plan, process and capacity for commercializing other technologies emanating from CERMUSA, St. Francis University and other R&D organizations in the region.

Lessons learned

The experiences in the Johnstown region have yielded lessons regarding the innovation commercialization process – particularly the business concept recognition and feasibility testing process – and broader insights regarding innovation commercialization in a rural region.

• Feasibility assessment of potential market opportunities is best done in multiple iterations. Commercializable market opportunities do not emerge fully formed but must be shaped via rounds of feedback before they can be effectively evaluated.
  
  
• It is tremendously helpful to prepare write-ups that review the feasibility of each prospective market opportunity, such as those produced in this case by the MBA intern at CERMUSA. These make it possible for multiple people to review the same opportunity several times, provide coherent feedback, and understand and comment on the observations of others

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