Commentary

CLEO highlights Tech Transfer opportunities

June 24, 2013

The Optical Society (OSA) and other organizers of CLEO: 2013 have just concluded a very informative, interactive "Technology Transfer Program" as part of the CLEO: 2013 exhibition known as CLEO: EXPO.

Gail Overton

Decades ago (around 1988) when I was just a few years out of College and onto my third real "science" job as technology transfer liaison between GTE Labs in Waltham, MA and GTE Fiber Optic Products in Williamsport, PA, it was already obvious that transferring new technologies out of an R&D facility and into commercial production was a daunting task. The researchers that were super-excited about their latest gadget couldn't figure out why a lack of customer interest was a show-stopper to product launch—better to blame the technology transfer liaison for not finding enough customers! So I have to applaud university technology transfer organizations and companies like Yet2.com and Open Photonics for venturing into this difficult territory.

Fortunately, optics and photonics trade shows are beginning to feature more and more special sessions and programs on technology transfer. SPIE did an excellent job with its SPIE Startup Challenge at Photonics West 2013, and now the Optical Society (OSA) and other organizers of CLEO: 2013 have just concluded a very informative, interactive "Technology Transfer Program" as part of the CLEO: 2013 exhibition known as CLEO: EXPO.

Because my technology transfer (tech xfr) interest lies in discovering what new technologies are being developed as fodder for news stories and blogs in Laser Focus World magazine and online, I skipped the opening technology transfer tutorial and launched right into the "Technology Transfer Showcase" wherein five organizations/companies presented their available technologies for licensing and partnerships—the good stuff!

With Robert Mandra of RSM Advisors as chair, new technology innovations were presented by MIT technology licensing officer David Sossen, co-founder and CTO of Crystalline Mirror Solutions Garrett Cole, VerLASE president and CEO George Powch, INFRASIGN co-founder Anadi Mukherjee, and Kyushu University professor Totaro Imasaka. In the figure below, Sossen (far left) speaks at the podium as Mandra, Cole, and Powch (left to right) listen.

Norwood lamented (well, perhaps it wasn't that mournful) the timeline of his involvement as VP and CTO in the startup Photon-X developing polymer optical amplifiers during the telecom bubble of 1999-2002 (or thereabouts). As a veteran of the bubble myself, I could relate to his anguish; specifically; his indication that VCs fund an application as well as a core technology and are risk-averse when it comes to that company taking a new direction in the middle of the funding process. Despite his regret that he didn't spend more time on advancing the technology side of the business during its progressive stage, he did relate that VC funding really does create great technology even if the company is not ultimately successful.

Technology Transfer is indeed a risky undertaking, with both sweet and sour rewards that depend on a myriad of factors that don't necessarily include just how great a product really is. Sometimes a bubble or poor marketing can squash an otherwise solid idea. But sometimes, the right combination of product and startup talent can make all the difference and successfully—and profitably—bring a new product to market. My thanks to CLEO: 2013 for bringing this subject to the fore.

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.