Cases from MaxInno’s Practice

Future Trends in Healthcare: Business Intelligence

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:18:15 +0200

MaxInno work with fast growing spinoff companies to improve their understanding of trends - business intelligence.
We worked with one of Europe’s fastest growing IT companies to set the company’s strategy for diversification into the healthcare industry

Memo: CLIENT’s Health Care Market plans, partnerships
CLIENT has analysed and developed its strategy in health care since 2006. In spring 2007, CLIENT joined forces with MaxInno to speed up and focus these plans. The result of this effort is the project codenamed “DELETED” and “CLIENT Labs” (spin-in<>spinout of technology; CLIENT as a business-based technology incubator).
This memo clarifies the objectives of PROJECT and the relations to strategic partners in the DELETED. Furthermore, the memo wishes to address any ethical questions about conflicts of interest for any or all parties.
CLIENT is a partner of DELETED and collaborates with several partners in projects such as DELETED Some of these partners have other projects such as DELETED. MaxInno is invited to deliver services to all of these projects.
PROJECT
CLIENT wishes to expand its business into a new market related to “untraditional HealthCare Systems”, a new consumer market. CLIENT has developed a new Business Model for the PROJECT in parallel with analysing individual opportunities in [DELETED] and concluded to focus on the following headlines:
Non-invasive imaging/signal acquisition for diagnostic purposes;
Secure -”CLIENT”- Central server solution;
Personalised (“ PROJECT”) service changes value chain in HealthCare IT;
Scalable: Think globally; Start locally;
Build on upstream partners for inlicensing and downstream partners for sales outlets (e.g. Pharmacies, Care product companies, among others);
Integrate and build a new form of second opinion service involving (inter)national HealthCare specialists.

The mission of the new business is to empower persons, families and patients to acquire, store, access and share critical health information, which will improve early detection and diagnosis of a number of diseases, especially by image and sensor processing of signals from the human body, signals which are stored in and accessible from a secure central server.

The PROJECT technologies are preferably already in the market or late-stage prototypes are available, whereas the business model is new. CLIENT identifies best-of-breed technologies for early detection (hereinafter “Winner Applications” or “Winner Apps”) that may be integrated into the business model, thereby allowing CLIENT to position itself by reinventing the HealthCare value chain (see figure in the next page).

ProbMatch or How a Corporation diversified through an Event supported by Intelligence By Objectives

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:21:30 +0200

Case Study Problem Solving Matchmaking Event
This case is about a global Aerospace development and manufacturing company having a turnover of more than 1$ Billion.
The company expressed interest in learning how to integrate nanotechnology applications into their products and manufacturing processes in order to enhance their competitiveness in the global market.
In spite of the fact that the company had began to study the field of nanotechnology they admitted that they were unsure of how to get real benefit from nanotech and how to push it downstream into their process and end products.
The company's senior technical management requested from Jacob Bar to provide them with a review of relevant nanotechnology providers in the market.
As a suggestion to help them move forward more quickly and effectively, Jacob proposed to go one step further beforehand by having them define technological problem areas and actively seeking solutions form organizations having relevant technology and capabilities in the nano arena.
As such, it was proposed to hold an event using a method called "Problem Solving Matchmaking".
The Pre-Event Process
As such, it was agreed that
• CLIENT would present 4 technology problem areas that they believe can be significantly enhanced using nanotechnologies.
• Jacob would seek relevant companies having suitable technologies and capabilities.
Furthermore, CLIENT committed to the following:
• They will finance the cost to the solution providers necessary for problem resolution
• To organize the event on their account and on their premises.
• They will be fully involved in the evaluation and screening of eligible technology providers.
• They will enter into a technological cooperation agreement with any or all nanotechnology providers presenting viable solutions.
• They will appoint CLIENT employees that will serve as effective points of contact between the "problem owners" and nanotechnology providers.
At the commencement of the process the following parameters were planned:
• The desired outcomes of the event
• A timetable demonstrating an iterative process of activities
• Success criteria – the signing of at least one cooperation agreement would be considered a success.
A unique, process specific search engine. (developed by Mr. Bar), was used for collecting data on relevant nanotechnology providers from industry and academia.
• A total of 40 organizations were found to be relevant at first. The screening process included speaking with them in order to determine:
• The suitability of the company's or researcher's technology/ expertise to the defined problem areas.
• Their willingness to participate in the process.
Organizations that passed the first screening stage (a total of 30) were referred to CLIENT"Problem Owners" for a second stage of screening.
The Problem Owners chose 8 organizations (5 from industry and 3 from the academia) from the 30 that were presented to them.
The Event
The event included approximately 50 attendees including representatives of 7 of the 8 chosen technology providers and the CLIENTProblem Owners.
Starting from 0830 the 4 Client’s Problem Owners each made a 15 minute presentation which including the following problem areas:
• Electrical and Magnetic Properties of Nano PArticles
• Integration of nano-particles as fullerenes in paints, coatings and polymeric matrices
• Anti-corrosive coatings and materials' surface treatments
• Mechanical properties' enhancement of composite materials
During the second part of the event, the technology providers presented their technology, capabilities and their ability to address the problems relevant to their area.
The presentations included interactive Questions and Answers from the attendees.
During the third part of the event, one-on-one meetings were held between technology providers and relevant problem owners in which they reviewed the problems and their possible resolution in more detail. The meetings were pre-scheduled with slight changes made following the first part of the event.
At the end of each meeting, it was determined who would continue to the next stage –
i.e. a technology cooperation agreement.
The results were much better than what was expected as all technology providers (100%) will be reaching such a cooperation agreement.
The event was determined to be successful as the success criteria was well exceeded.
The duration of the process was 2.5 months from the event's inception until it was held.
In reviewing the process and it's results, it is believed that the following conditions must be met in order to achieve success for such an event:
The Problem Owner must be a large company that is willing to expose unsolved its' problems
The large company is willing to finance the cost of the problem resolution.
The large company is willing to utilize external technology for problem resolution (e.g. a company dealing with conventional chemical material coatings is interested to explore new technology such as nanotech.)
The large company is willing to cooperate with technology providers from industry and the academia.
The technology problem solvers are small companies.
Comment: Once the focus was on the utilization of a new technology area – nanotechnology – the NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome became irrelevant.

Fundraising for Novel Biosensor

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:13:48 +0200

MaxInno worked with UPV of Spain on commercializing a novel bioassay technology . This is a shortened version of the fund raising document.
MaxInno licensed the technology and found finance partners as well as helped negotiate a license deal.
Click on the document icon above to download a short version of the Presentation of the project for a group of Business Angels. The document has been edited for public review.

Competitor Analysis sharpens strategy for high tech company

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:50:30 +0200

MaxInno performed an in-house workshop for a Central European high tech company based on breakthrough nano-fiber technology. The Objective was to find out what a US corporation might wish from the Company from recent contact and contract negotiations. The in-house BeefCAMPus analyzed patent sources and selected business sources and found the assumed reasons for the corporation’s interests. Patent Class and Competitor Analysis solved the case.
The Company got a much sharpened focus in its negotiations with the US Coporation, which is now a strategic partner.

Novel Wastewater Treatment Valuation

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:52:25 +0200

This is a document outlining the study of the Value Innovation points of a new WWT technology. The technology had been implemented already and a small company developed around it. How could it grow internationally?.
Terms of reference
Business Plan and Financial Strategy for ECD
Introduction
ECD is an innovative and growing small company in the field of wastewater treatment (WWT). This growth is expected to continue especially due to the expected establishment of thousands of WWT plants in all of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the next 10 years. ECD’s cost-effective technology also gives ECD a strong competitive position in EU and beyond. In order to match its potential, ECD must, however, outgrow its own financial and competence capacity. There is a need for financial instruments and a plan for disseminating the technology to all of CEE and beyond. ECD needs to attract outside capital and strategic partners for financing in order to sustain its growth path.
ECD therefore needs a business plan, which can convince capital and strategic partners that ECD is a safe and good investment. These Terms of reference outlines such a business plan as described below.
Objectives
• The objectives of the study is to
• prepare a business plan, including
• a review of ECD’s technological and financial performance
proposals/recommendations for one or more strategies to finance growth and to develop a competent international organization
Tasks
The tasks of the study are:
• analyze ECD’s technology with regard to technical performance and compare with competitors/state-of-the-art WWT
• analyze and compare ECD’s technology with regard to cost-effectiveness and compare with competitors/state-of-the-art WWT
• analyze ECD’s economic and financial performance, including sources/causes of losses and gains. If possible the findings of this part of the study should be compared with competitors/state-of-the-art WWT
• prepare a SWOT analysis for ECD
• develop strategies for financing growth and for keeping high levels of competency in the organization during the transfer of ECD’s technology to foreign markets. This part of the study should include strategies for transfer of know-how and intellectual property rights.
Definitions
In the following, key elements and terms of the study are defined:
• competitors/state-of-the-art: in the Czech Republic and other prospective strategic markets, including Denmark, Germany and Austria. The following methods/principles of WWT should be included, also including mentioned established competitors and the following reference sites: [here fill in]
• compare technology: the following criteria and methods should be used [we decide on criteria and indicators]
• compare cost-effectiveness: should be determined by comparison of investment/cubic metre of treated water [fill in...], Operational and maintenance costs investment/cubic metre of treated water [fill in...],
• financial performance: accounts including gains and losses from Financial Years19xx-2000.
• growth (expected): > 25% per annum
• transfer of know-how and intellectual property rights (IPR): the study should determine key elements of the technology with regard to personal competencies and IPR. Can the technology easily be transferred? Is it easy to copy and if yes: is it possible to prevent copying?
• Business plan: a business plan should include the following elements [see annex...fill in]
• Financial plan (included in business plan) should reflect the special financial situation not only in CEE markets but also in EU (selected markets). It is expected that so-called BOO/T (Build, Own, Operate/Transfer) are going to be important as instruments to cover the financing of new WWT plants. Based on scenarios for growth, the financing needs and the cash flows of these scenarios should be determined.

IP Audit in UK Corporation

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:52:41 +0200

MaxInno audited close to 100 IP assets. The client saved an estimated £ 650,000 on patent protection and commercialized a few of the precious assets.
The lessons for corporates: (1) you may spend money on assets which are worthless and (2) you may make money on commercializing valuable assets outside your own market domain(s).
MaxInno got a fixed price per IP assets which we valuated and the right to commercialize valuable assets. The project was summarized in a several hundred page report and supported by thousands of search reports.

IP Audit in EU based University

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:12:49 +0200

MaxInno has audited whole portfolios of IP in research groups belonging to whole universities or faculties or institutes.
One recent case saved the university money on patenting and MaxInno brought 3 others to negotiated license agreements. One case, a novel drug, is now in Phase 2b clinical trials after successful negotiations.
MaxInno’s contribution in money saving lies in thorough prior art analysis (find existing patents or technologies, which perform the same function as the patent). The license agreements negotiations went through Term Sheet development through to final licensing.
In several cases, MaxInno becomes the licensee.