Incubator Management and
Technology Commercialization Training
Global Commercialization Group (GCG) offers training in the establishment and management of successful technology-based business incubators. The three-phase program is designed to educate up to twenty managers grouped for practical exercises in four teams. The managers are typically from the same region/country but have varying experiences with different types of incubators. Initial training occurs in the home region of the managers, and is followed by practical team-based experiences online and at the sites of successful US business incubators. All three phases of the program can be completed in less than eight weeks, depending on the needs of the participants.
Program Overview:
During Phase 1 , participants receive ten days of instruction in their region on incubation management and technology assessment. Phase 2 provides online mentoring for the same twenty participants while they work on assessing a technology/venture for commercial viability. During Phase 3, the twenty participants will spend two weeks in the United States, visiting US incubators, meeting with mentors, and developing a strategy for their individual incubators.
Goals:
Through lectures, individual coaching, mentored team experiences, and hands-on assignments, including presentation, review, and assessment assignments, participants will understand
- Critical success factors of business incubation
- The practices of business incubation
- The context of business incubation
- Technology commercialization and commercialization strategies
- Technology assessment and IC² methodologies for assessments
- How to work effectively in teams to screen and select promising technologies and ventures for incubation
- Incubator management and technology commercialization practices in the United States
Faculty:
The program curriculum was designed by IC² senior staff and fellows with expertise in incubation and commercialization, including Dr. Joel Wiggins, Director of the Austin Technology Incubator and member of the Board of Directors of the National Business Incubation Association. Instructors are award-winning faculty members of The University of Texas at Austin’s Master of Science in Science and Technology Commercialization degree program.
Detailed Curriculum for Incubator Management and Technology Commercialization Training:
Phase 1: Ten days of instruction in home region.
Day 1:
Overview and student presentations.
The cultural and social contexts of business incubation.
Day 2:
Critical success factors of business incubation (discussion and team projects).
Days 3:
Incubator models.
Practices of business incubation.
Day 4:
Team work on incubator business plans.
Practices of business incubation (continued).
Day 5:
Practices of business incubation (continued).
Team presentations on business plans for incubators.
Day 6:
Introduction to technology commercialization.
IC2 Quicklook and In-Depth technology assessment processes.
Day 7:
Analysis of assessment reports.
Key sub-processes of the Quicklook process.
Description of technology screening processes and distribution of technologies to teams.
Day 8:
Team work on technology screening and creation of tech selection/assessment reports.
Review of assessment processes.
Day 9:
Team presentations on screened technologies; modification of Quicklook process.
Practices of business incubation (continued): selecting promising companies.
Day 10:
Student teams act as review boards.
Phase 2: One month of online mentoring on Phase 1 “Quicklook” technology assessment home-work assignment. Students continue to work in four teams of five members per team. GCG mentors remain in the US and communicate with participants through the Internet.
Phase 3: One to two weeks of experiences in the US, including delivery of completed Quicklook reports and presentations with face-to-face feedback from mentors, and visits to US incubators and corporations, including the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI).
Day 1:
Orientation, overview, and team-mentor meetings.
Teams present Quicklooks and receive critiques ATI strategy center.
Day 2:
Observe ATI and Clean Energy Incubator (CEI) operations.
Visit ATI and CEI companies and UT Technology Transfer Office and UT labs.
Days 3-4:
Trip to San Antonio and Houston or other cities to visit incubators.
Day 5:
Visit technology licensing/commercialization offices of Austin hi-tech corporations, and Austin entrepreneurship/incubation associations.
Graduation ceremony and discussions of next steps.
Days 6-10 (optional):
Internship at resident incubator companies.
Development of individual incubator strategy and tactical plan
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