New trial technology from IBM may help find investors quickly for university inventions.
This is a pilot project that slashes search times for research required to spot potential investors for University-developed technologies. Billy Houghteling, director of the Office of Technology Transfer, worked with faculty and MBA students in the College of Management on the project, during which IBM helped OTT narrow lists of investors quickly.
“The project [was] designed to encourage economic growth and get new inventions from N.C. State researchers into the marketplace quickly,” according to an August 11 PRNewswire press release.
The University took advantage of IBM’s “Big Data” technology to locate and analyze large chunks of Web data for content. Then, the University was able to conduct a more focused search for business entities that might be interested in the technologies trying to be funded Dozens of corporations and universities use IBM’s Big Data tools, but this was the first time that a university used the tools to improve potential investor data, said Chris Spencer, emerging technologies strategist for IBM Software.
“IBM is always on the lookout for big data problems,” Spencer said. “N.C. State is a big research institution; it runs the gamut from information technology to life sciences and everything in between.”
According to Spencer, when working with emerging technologies, it’s important to illustrate a business value – that’s where Big Data comes in.
“One of our major challenges is identifying industry partners that might be interested in the technologies that are developed by N.C. State students, faculty, and staff,” said Houghteling.
OTT has around 20 employees trying to commercialize thousands of University-developed technologies. For each technology, OTT must do extensive research to compile a credible list of potential investors and partners.
“We’re talking about a process that typically takes two to four months” per technology, Houghteling said.
During the pilot project, IBM’s technology helped OTT knock that time down considerably. IBM used its Big Data software to analyze the markets for two N.C. State technologies, which resulted in about a dozen total potential investors. The first consisted of several new Salmonella strains intended for use in vaccines.
“We started with 1.4 million Web pages; then it went to a couple thousand, then to 200,” Spencer said. “Eventually, N.C. State had a list of ‘hot prospects.”
The other technology was a smart inhaler, which is a “biomedical device used for targeted drug delivery to the lungs,” Houghteling said.
OTT has also identified a similar list of “hot prospects” for the inhaler. Without IBM’s Big Data solutions, the same research would have taken months and “involved dozens of people clipping newspaper reports, visiting Web pages, making telephone calls, and hiring translators,” according to the release.
“The whole idea of IBM’s Big Data program is to help companies and institutions that don’t want to get buried in all the information out there,” Spencer said. “We have a deep collaborative relationship with N.C. State and had some technologies that might be applicable.”
The pilot program started in January and wrapped up this spring.
“Now, we’re going to have to decide whether we purchase it,” said Houghteling.
While the technology was effective during the pilot project, Houghteling said it must prove useful to other members of the University community – students, faculty, and staff – before the final verdict.
“More vetting of the technology needs to be done. We need to have other departments look at it to see if they can improve their processes,” said Houghteling.
To provide maximum benefit, the technology should live in the University’s Cloud computing environment, he said.
