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Invention-driven marketingSuppose you have just created a revolutionary bicycle suspension which allows a bike to be ridden over rough terrain at 60 miles per hour. In addition, suppose that you are deeply concerned about the plight of hungry children. Which should you do: be sure all hungry children have bicycles; transfer the technology for your new suspension to bicycle manufacturers worldwide; or start a company to supply premium sports bicycle based on your patented technology, and donate the profits to a charity which feeds hungry children? Woven through this somewhat trivial example is the paradox of technology transfer - the supplier (owner) may want to transfer technology; but to succeed, he or she must reformulate the problem as a user need for which there is a new and better solution. Successful technology transfer is little more than good marketing applied to an existing invention, process, or capability. You must identify who needs the technology, why they need it, why the new technology is better than alternatives, how much the customers are willing and able to pay for these benefits, and how to distribute products based on the technology tc the target customers. In market-driven development, the term 'technology transfer' is rarely used. The developers focus on studying user needs and designing solution They may have technology needs, but they don't have technology in search of a use.
Document ID
19960022644
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Carlson, William E.
(Intermetrics, Inc. Cambridge, MA United States)
Date Acquired
August 17, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: Dual-Use Space Technology Transfer Conference and Exhibition, Volume 2
Subject Category
Urban Technology And Transportation
Accession Number
96N25588
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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