1 Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities by Educating for Technology Commercialization at Johns Hopkins University FEDERAL LABORATORY CONSORTIUM MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL MEETING September 13-15, 2005 Cumberland, Maryland Lawrence Aronhime Benjamin Gibbs

2 The Johns Hopkins University Founded in 1876 in Baltimore, MD The first research university in the U.S. Homewood campus Whiting School of Engineering Krieger School of Arts and Sciences 4000 undergrads and 1400 grads Other schools include Bloomberg School of Public Health School of Medicine Applied Physics Laboratory

3 The W.P. Carey Program in Entrepreneurship and Management Established in 1996 Part of the Center for Leadership Education within the Whiting School of Engineering No major in business is offered, only a minor 22+ courses every semester 900+ undergraduate students every semester About 35% of students from Engineering The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

4 Teaching Entrepreneurship According to James Fiet of the University of Louisville, we need to get beyond entrepreneurial profiles, anecdotal recommendations, rules of thumb, and “war stories” According to Robert Hisrich of Case Western, “no unique combination of traits, experiences, and acquired skills differentiates a successful entrepreneur from an unsuccessful one, or even from a manager.” Again, according to Fiet, the discovery process is at the heart of what we mean by entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is about discovering a valuable economic opportunity and exploiting it The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

5 Entrepreneurial Competence “Entrepreneurs develop a special competence in interpreting information that signals the existence of opportunities to create new wealth” “Signals consist of new information that has the capacity to change our understanding of the future” “Entrepreneurial competence consists of knowledge that cannot be easily transmitted to another agent because it is often tacit knowledge which has been acquired in response to learning by doing” Thus, “entrepreneurial competence can be improved” And it can be taught The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

6 Teaching Entrepreneurship The key is learning by doing Opportunities to learn by doing at Hopkins Tech commercialization projects Business opportunity program Practicum in entrepreneurship Student campus enterprises The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

7 Growing a Tech Commercialization Program Began in the management accounting class First projects came from undergraduate design teams in biomedical engineering And expanded from there to Mechanical engineering design teams The Whiting School of Engineering The schools of Medicine and Public Health The Applied Physics Laboratory The federal lab at Indian Head The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

8 Working with Tech Transfer Offices Johns Hopkins University Office of Licensing and Technology Development Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Medicine BSPH Research Administration Public Health Office of Technology Transfer Applied Physics Laboratory Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division Technology Transfer Office The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

9 Student Projects Stage 1 Assessment Description of technology and its advantages over prior art Strength of the intellectual property claims Possible applications and fields of use Market size and demand Competitors Opinions of experts Export controls Stage 2 Assessment Detailed description of the value proposition Potential licensees Path to commercialization Valuation Spec sheet The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

10 Spring 2005 Projects ProjectSponsorPatent Thin film vanadium dioxide spatial light modulators and methods JHU Applied Physics LabIssued Machine health monitoring using signature analysis and lasers JHU Applied Physics LabPending Compressed gas vehicle fuel storage system JHU Applied Physics LabIssued MEMS multi-directional shock sensorIndian HeadPending Method and device for clearing firebreaks and controlling fire Indian HeadPending Alternative system that provides cryptographic security, auditing and rapid computer access Whiting School of Engineering Pending The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

11 Sample Fall 2005 Projects ProjectSponsorPatent Explosively driven impactor grenade for potential use in law enforcement Indian HeadIssued Method for depositing cadmium plating for corrosion protection of steel workpieces Indian HeadPending Method and system for automated detection of micro-calcification clusters in mammograms JHU Applied Physics LabPending Remote monitoring and relaying for wrist watch alarm JHU Applied Physics LabPending Clip-on type wireless sensor for detecting vapors emanating from explosive type organic compounds JHU Applied Physics LabPending The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

12 The Business Opportunity Option Students who complete assessments for APL can exercise an option to license the technology establish a new venture complete due diligence work with APL researchers to close any technology gaps work with APL patent counsel and tech transfer managers as needed find customers and licensees find investors The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

13 Practicum in Entrepreneurship Question: how can we continue to support students who have not graduated, but want to pursue the business opportunity? Answer: a new course Students apply to enter Students must submit an initial business plan They form an LLC in the first week of class They establish milestones for prototypes, customers, and investors The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

14 Future New technology commercialization course in Fall 2005 Expand the projects to other departments and federal labs the support network for student teams the involvement of local business leaders the number of students exercising options the number of projects receiving funding Move student ventures to local incubators after the practicum Student agency for assessing new technology The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

15 Successes to Date Licensing deal and funding for a medical device developed by BME to detect pre-term labor Commitment to develop a bio-repository at SPH Four students placed with tech commercialization firms and two in internships Formation of two student-owned ventures One group exercised its option for an APL technology One group licensed a technology from the Navy The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

16 Baltimore Shipping Technologies Formed on February 17, 2005 by students from Prof. Aronhime’s Managerial Accounting class We were the first students to participate in the Practicum in Entrepreneurship Established to license the Joint Modular Intermodal Container technology from NSWC Indian Head The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

17 Our Goals License the technology from Indian Head Adapt the military design to suit commercial needs based on our market research Identify and partner with companies capable of assisting the commercialization process Launch the commercial JMIC The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

18 Support Professor Lawrence Aronhime, JHU Lani Hummel, Director of Industrial Initiatives, JHU Technology Development Corporation of Maryland (TEDCO) Maryland Technology Extension Services (MTES) Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) Emerging Technologies Centers (ETC) Dr. J. Scott Deiter, Head of Technology Transfer, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

19 Progress to Date Officially licensed the commercial rights to specific fields of use for the JMIC from the Navy Established a CRADA with IHDIV to further develop the JMIC for commercial markets Secured $75,000 in development financing from the TEDCO Maryland Technology Transfer Fund (MTTF) Identified a potential manufacturing partner Working with Maryland DBED to identify potential first users/customers of the commercial JMIC The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University

20 Future Development Complete the design of the commercial JMIC and produce prototypes Test the prototypes at several specific laboratories that specialize in logistics packaging UPS lab in Chicago Sardo Lab at Virginia Tech Partner with beta customers Commercially launch the JMIC by February 2007 The W.P. Carey Program In Entrepreneurship and Management The Johns Hopkins University