Yearly Archives: 2011

At WaikatoLink, we’re introducing a new project management tool to our systems called Strategiize. Here’s a blurb from the commercialisation office leading the development of the software, Flinders Partners. Effectively creating value from opportunities and ideas Ensuring that innovations continue on the path to commercial value can be frustrating and inefficient leading to maximum results often not being achieved. Using standard project management methodologies is ineffectual as commercialisation of new more…

Market researchers are like the Private Investigators of the commercialisation process. They use several techniques to gather information about new technologies to help make better commercial decisions. Nigel Davidson is one of the researchers in the WaikatoLink Hothouse and he has explained some of these techniques in a bit more detail. As a market researcher at WaikatoLink, I work alongside other interns and students employed in the Hothouse. Our role more…

Nidhie is a Business Analyst at WaikatoLink. Here’s her insight into how the hothouse works and where it’s heading. So, what is the HotHouse, you’re probably wondering. The HotHouse was set up by WaikatoLink in 2003 to provide opportunities for university students to work on commercialisation projects and gain practical ‘real world’ experience. For many years we’ve been employing students to support commercialisation through various roles such as market research, more…

As IP plays such an important role at WaikatoLink, we keep a close eye on good practices and changes that could have a significant impact on how we do things. Greg Mitchell, our IP Analyst, has been taking a look at how the US is coming into line with the rest of the world around the ‘first to invent’ rule and how that might affect us. We thought it might more…

WaikatoLink takes several interns on each year to join the WaikatoLink HotHouse. This entry is from Nicole’s perspective as one of our Interns. A Valuable Experience: My Internship at WaikatoLink While at university it can seem easy to get lost in the process and I often find myself likening all the tests, assessments and essays to jumping hurdles. As each one comes up you perform the necessary actions to get more…

Lynda Hitchcock, Business Systems Manager at WaikatoLink, explains why she is focussed on assisting with increasing the interaction between KiwiNet and entrepreneurs and investors. KiwiNet is focused on increasing involvement of entrepreneurs and investors early in the commercialisation of research based technologies. These groups can offer perspective on the market viability of technologies, expertise around the direction of technology development, process to market or opportunities within the market. These groups more…

A month or so ago I took a step back from the day-to-day activities in the office and thought about the business from an outsiders point of view. Not just our business here at WaikatoLink, but the tech transfer business in general. The stats from AUTM and ASTP show that only a small percentage of TTOs break even consistently. Could anything be done about that? What, I thought, would your more…

Posted below are the thoughts of one of WaikatoLink’s commercial managers on some key things to be considered when determining whether to create a spin-off. So you’ve been project managing a cool piece of technology at the University, and the time has come to decide whether you should license, sell, or form a spin-off company commercialise the technology. How do you decide the best option? Spin out companies are often more…