1. Richard Brook FREng Commercial experience Getting innovation and new technology into business and industry - some practical challenges

2. STARTING OUT 1966-1980 Qualifications: Maths & Computer Science Career choice: Automation r&d Motivation: Engineering as a creative tool Early projects: Automated visual inspection Working with industry to solve problems

3. Steel

4. Aluminium

5. Lessons: Difficult environment Difficult, lengthy and costly proving process Adverse side effects on process yield during trials Suspicions over employment implications Competing priorities for investment Uncertain scale of cost savings Complexity of integrating new technologies What are the barriers to adoption? Who is going to pay? Why will they pay? What is the return on investment? Need to know the client’s business! Tin plate

6. Success in the glass industry However the UK is a difficult market for new technologies. The US is a good early adopter. Knowledge of the industry became a major asset. Float glass line

7. Simplicity is preferable to complexity Confectionary wrappers

8. 1980-1990 Process control projects Cement kilns

9. Obvious cost and environmental benefits Risk averse suppliers Operators’ fears of redundancy Time taken to resolve issues Very successful outcome Sorting out spin-out to commercialise Ownership of IP and software copyright issues on exit Importance of i)Human factors ii)IP iii)Exit planning

10. Another spin-out Stress measurement instrumentation Proving the performance Importance of user interface

11. Importance of design, branding, product strategy, marketing strategy US early adopter (again) Exits are tricky (again) Importance of i)Design ii)licensing vs spin-out iii)Commercial strategy iv)Exit planning v)Team

12. 1980-2014 Satellite instrumentation for ESA Contracts and change orders Quality assurance methodologies Risk management

13. Satellite instrumentation for ESA Competitive tendering Commercial competition ROSAT Star Tracker

14. Satellite instrumentation for ESA Technology demonstration Technology push to market pull Imaging spectrometer San Francisco

15. CONCLUDING 1999-2014 Financing spin-outs and growth SMEs Investors Returns Management teams Due diligence – markets, IP…. Shareholders Agreements Cash management!!!

16. I have learnt: You need to determine: Barriers to adoption. Who is going to pay Why will they pay What is the return on investment Human factors can be a formidable barrier. You need to know your client’s business. The UK is a difficult market for new technologies. The US is a good early adopter. Knowledge of the client’s industry is a major asset. Simplicity is preferable to complexity. Design is important. IP needs to be sorted out early on. Licensing should be considered before spin-out.

17. I have learnt: About: Contracts, quality assurance and risk. Competitive tendering and commercial competition. Technology demonstration Financing, investing and cash management. Commercial drive should be the basis for strategy. Early exit planning is critical. Cash is key – don’t run out of it. It all depends on the management team. Thank You