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Students will receive project assignments for which they are the Project Owner via a Project Request (PR) Form. The PR form gives information about the specific technology to be worked on, the type of project assigned, the project requestor, the due date and the estimated amount of time necessary to complete the project, along with other pertinent details. Students are in charge of the timely completion of those projects for which they are assigned to be Project Owner. Students may also be assigned to a project as a Project Consultant. As a Project Consultant, a student will work with the Project Owner in a capacity that reflects the consultant’s expertise. For example, an electrical engineering student might be a consultant on a project covering a technology relating to circuitry when that project is assigned to a law student. Students’ roles as both Project Owners and Project Consultants are essential to the smooth functioning of the TVSG.
Students are required to meet with their project requestor within the first few days after a project request form is received in order to discuss the project. It is generally advisable to remain in contact with the project requestor as you work through your projects, especially during the first few weeks of the clinic. Procedural questions relating to the TVSG can be directed to the Eric Menkhus, the TVSG Director, or to the TVSG Project Manager.
After assignments are completed, the Project Owner is responsible for setting up a meeting with the project requestor to wrap up the project and get feedback. Project Completion Steps
Types of TVSG Projects
Students are each assigned to be project lead on one project at any given time. There are four main types of projects generally assigned to TVSG students, although unique projects may be created to meet the specific needs of students. Each of the four projects is written using a template provided by the TVSG. However, students should feel free to discuss information that they believe to be of value but which is not included in the template with their project requestors. The four main types of projects are as follows:
New Invention Disclosure Analysis
The New Invention Disclosure Analysis (NIDA) project involves the analysis of an invention to determine whether the company should go forward with the patenting and commercialization of the technology.
The project begins with a technology assessment in which the technology itself is described along with the technologies currently in use in the marketplace and the AzTe technology is compared to what is currently in place. Next, an intellectual property analysis is performed in which the prior art related to the invention is searched for and analyzed in order to determine patentability of the new technology. The next step is a market assessment in which the market size, segmentation and trends related to the technology are determined along with information regarding companies currently active in the marketplace that could be potential competitors. Finally, the TVC student is asked to make a recommendation to AzTe as to whether or not the new invention will be viable in the marketplace and to describe the thought process leading up to this recommendation. NIDA Template
Portfolio Technology Assessment
A project that is very closely related to the NIDA is the Portfolio Technology Assessment (PTA), which is structured in the same way but is used to evaluate a technology that is already present and has some form of intellectual property protection in order to determine whether that protection should be continued. PTA Template
Non-Confidential Summary
The Non-Confidential Summary (NCS) project involves the creation of a marketing document distributed to potential licensees.
The NCS project begins with a description of an AzTe technology. Next, the potential applications of the technology are outlined. Finally, the way in which the new technology is different from and better than the technology currently in use in the marketplace is described. As implied by the name, the NCS should give only non-confidential information- a person reading the document should not be able to recreate the invention using the information given. Sample NCS Template
Commercialization Plan
The Commercialization Plan (CP) project involves detailed market research for technologies for which AzTe has decided to go forward in commercialization.
The project begins with a technology summary in which the invention is described and continues with a market assessment. In the market assessment, the relevant market size and segmentation are determined and specific details related to large and start-up companies involved in the marketplace are outlined- contact information for each of these companies is included. Next, venture capital firms operating in the marketplace that may be of interest to AzTe are described. The next step in the project is the description of any notable deals within the relevant marketplace. Finally, any other information the student finds relevant is included and the student is asked to make a recommendation as to how he or she would move forward with the commercialization of the technology and to provide the reasoning behind this conclusion. CP Template |
