Didier Leconte: Commercializing University Technologies (Part 2)

Throughout history, innovations have transformed industries and turned impossibilities into realities. Technologies are key enablers of these transformations.

In Mind to Market: Commercializing University Technologies (Part 1), we learned that technologies and inventions, when successfully translated into marketable products and applications, can have significant impact on the economy and create money-making opportunities.

But with opportunities come risks. It’s a given. Technology transfer is far from easy. Those who are interested in backing or helping to commercialize university inventions should understand the risks involved and ways to manage risks.

Few ideas as discussed in Part 1:

• Collaborate with specialist firms that help commercialize university innovations.
• Recognize the type of companies that’s most effective in transferring university technologies for good and for profits.
• Understand the differing values held by universities and investors/commercialization partners, and ways to protect the intellectual property.

Left: Didier Leconte of MSBiV

Here, Didier Leconte of MSBiV shares his thoughts on accessing university technologies and offer advice to those who want to help commercialize them.

Didier Leconte and MSBi Valorisation

With a total of 19 years of experience in the innovation sector, Didier Leconte has left his footprints in every stage of the innovation pipeline. He began to specialize in university tech transfer in 2004, where he’d managed a portfolio of technologies for 5 years. In 2009, he joined MSBi Valorisation (MSBiV) as president and general manager of the firm.

Based in Québec, Canada, MSBiV is the investment and commercialization partner for McGill University, Université de Sherbrooke, and Bishop’s University, as well as their affiliated hospitals and research institutes. The firm invests in and commercializes inventions and tech advancements in the energy, life sciences, physical sciences, and information technology sectors. Its goal is to turn marketable emerging technologies into successful business ventures.

* Edited interview

Since only a small percentage of inventions will make it to the market, what are your criteria in accessing university technologies?

The must-haves are market size, competitive advantage (killer app), and strong IP (issued in 50+ countries).

Personally, I see 3 important criteria:

• Real customer traction. Are customers willing to pay for it? If the customer traction is real, it may not have to be in tens of billions.
• Play the game. Are the inventors willing to play the game, which is long, difficult and painful? Granting a commercial license on a patent is an interesting milestone, but transferring the know-how and creating the innovation/development spirit that will transform the patent into a product is another story.
• Vision. Is there a vision? This criterion requires the ability to foresee something that no one else does, and the ability to achieve that vision.

What advice would you give to those who want to help commercialize university technologies?

• Partner with inventors. If the inventors are instrumental, make sure to partner with them. Remember that most licensing deals are IP made of patent and source code, but not the know-how.
• Understand the eco-system. Technology transfer organizations aren’t run the same way. Some look for shares, others royalties; some want both! Most of them publicize their processes on their website so you can learn more about how they work before initiating contacts.
• Give feedback. A technology transferred to the market is the results of trial and errors. Feedbacks help improve the technology and help discover new features and applications.
• Share the value. Negotiation isn’t a zero-sum game. It isn’t an “I win – you lose” discussion. The goal is to fairly share the value created by the technology.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Québec offers world-class laboratories, highly-qualified professionals, and a supportive eco-system that helps entrepreneurs and corporations manage the risks of transferring the technology to the market.

I appreciate MSBiV’s model of investing time, capital, and expertise to help fuel opportunities. I’d like to attract more companies, investors, and co-investors into such model.

To enhance the effectiveness in the transfer of technology, one ought to understand that technology transfer goes beyond the licensing aspect. It’s a process of mutual sharing. I feel more knowledgeable today because of all the interactions I’ve had with researchers, inventors, managers, and investors over the last 20 years.

Just for Fun – If you could have any superpower, what’d it be?

I’d read books and learn new things at a subsonic pace like Neo in The Matrix, and then share that vast knowledge of our world with my kids!