On Tuesday, March 15th from 7-8pm the Intellectual Property Collider Kick Off event was held at the SCET Stadium office. Dr. Tal Lavian and Dr. Ron Lesniak from UC Berkeley, College of Engineering discussed how IEOR 190c and 190g has teamed up with the Berkeley Intellectual Property & Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) to create an exciting program focusing on how to build successful Go To Market strategies. Lesniak explained how this collider will answer two of the most important questions from the investment community, “How big is your market?” and “How do you make money?” Teams will learn how to link idea applications with the market, size the market that investors will want, and build a robust template of an ongoing business entity.
Akash Bakshi, Assistant Director of Marketing at IPIRA, discussed how important intellectual property is and how “IPIRA gives out 800 agreements per year, have over 2,000 inventions, and have brought in over $250 million in IP licensing revenues”.
Entrepreneurs are passionate idea creators who band together in teams to create value for customers. Many start by filling a blank sheet of paper, using a sharp pencil and a big eraser, along a path of learning and building a dream. They look at the end of the rainbow where they will create a successful company and win big in the market. Getting to the market is the focus never to be forgotten.
Lesniak explained how the first thing teams should do is clearly define the idea, determine the key applications of the product, and define the customer segments. Investors want to know that your target market is substantial and that you have a well-considered plan for getting in front of real customers, who will spend money for your products.
IPIRA is offering SCET students the opportunity to use Berkeley-owned intellectual property, consisting of ideas that have shown early significant value. Ideas span from Retriveability from Cloud Storage, to Rapid Running Robot, to Silicon Photonic Switch, to a Network-Connected, Low-power Warning Device for Natural and Man-Made Disasters. Students participating in this program will likely have a chance to talk with the original inventors as they develop Go To Market strategies for these ideas. Simply put, IPIRA would like to add real value to ideas in their portfolio and would like to team up with SCET students to make this happen.
Learning how to execute a successful Go To Market strategy is extremely important to any entrepreneur. This new program is targeted to be a win for the IPIRA group, for SCET – IEOR, and for you. And by the way, the team with best Go To Market strategy of this semester will split a $5,000 prize!