Publications

October 2019 (Revised March 2021)
Background Note

Modern Automation (B): Robotics

By: William R. Kerr and James Palano

Driven largely by advances in perception and situational awareness, robots in the 2010s were gaining functionality that allowed them to be applied to fundamentally new types of work. The expanding range of new tasks that could be completed by machines had significant... View Details

Keywords: Robotics; Artificial Intelligence; Future Of Work; Technology Commercialization; Information Technology; Commercialization; Employment; AI and Machine Learning

September 2007 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Syndexa and Technology Transfer at Harvard University

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and David Kiron

Gokhan Hotamisligil is a star researcher at Harvard School of Public Health who has made groundbreaking discoveries linking fat cells, inflammation, and diabetes. He now wants to form a company to commercialize these discoveries. At the same time, Isaac Kohlberg, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry

December 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc.

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Edward G Cape

Describes an innovating start-up company with a disruptive technology to the large, expensive echocardiography machines that leading cardiologists use to create images of heart functions for diagnostic purposes. Ecton's machine is small, cheap, portable, and can't... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Machinery and Machining; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Product; Commercialization; Technology; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Web

Information Technology | About

Information Technology Access to HBS networks, applications, computers, and other electronic resources (heretofore referred to as “the Resources”) is a privilege. HBS reserves the right to revoke access at any time at its sole discretion.... View Details

19 Jun 2018
News

When Technology Gets Ahead of Society

2020
Working Paper

Pioneer (Dis-)advantages in Markets for Technology

By: Moritz Fischer, Joachim Henkel and Ariel Dora Stern

This study sheds new light on first- and early-mover advantages in the context of product innovation. Research on this classic topic often assumes that each firm participates in the entirety of the innovation and commercialization process. However, a division of labor... View Details

Keywords: First-mover Advantage; Product; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Acquisition; Technology

SSRN

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June 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

SKOLAR: Launching a University Technology Spinoff Company

SKOLAR is the first company formally spun out of Stanford University. The company is searching for the right business model to commercialize its Internet-based medical information offering. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Commercialization; Higher Education; Information Technology; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; California

Find at Harvard

June 1999
Teaching Note

Markets for Technology and the Returns on Research TN

By: Clayton M. Christensen

The purpose of the readings and class discussion is to help students understand why it often is so difficult for companies that conduct research to capture its value in their commercial businesses. Often new technology leaks more easily to the market. Students can... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Research; Commercialization; Technology Adoption; Value

2014
Working Paper

Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

Scientific research and its translation into commercialized technology is a driver of wealth creation and economic growth. Partnerships to foster the translational processes from public research organizations, such as universities and hospitals, to private firms are a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Firm Performance; Public-private Partnership Funding; Translational Research; Small And Medium Enterprises; Partners and Partnerships; Public Sector; Private Sector; Performance; Science-Based Business; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

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September 2008
Background Note

Background on the Technology of Molecular Diagnostics

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Jason Sanders

To be used as background reading for the "EXACT Sciences Corp.: Commercializing a Diagnostic Test" and "Diagnostic Genomics" cases, HBS nos. 308-090 and 309-040. View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Technology; Biotechnology Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Find at Harvard

15 Sep 2010
Working Paper Summaries

From Bench to Board: Gender Differences in University Scientists’ Participation in Commercial Science

Keywords: by Waverly W. Ding, Fiona Murray & Toby E. Stuart; Biotechnology

September 2012 (Revised March 2015)
Case

CoET: Innovation in Africa

By: Diego Comin, Diana Dimitrova and Yukiko Tsukamoto

Keywords: Innovation; Developing Countries; Technology Commercialization; Entrepreneurship; Africa; Technology Diffusion; Tanzania

1999
Article

Commercial Use of UPC Scanner Data: Industry and Academic Perspectives

By: Randolph E. Bucklin and Sunil Gupta

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology; Perspective; Education; Supply and Industry

Find at Harvard

1999
Chapter

Venture Capital and the Commercialization of Academic Technology: Symbiosis and Paradox

By: Josh Lerner

Keywords: Venture Capital; Commercialization; Information Technology; Education; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

Video

2012 Business Plan Contest Business Venture Track Winner: Vaxess Technologies

March 2011 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences

By: Willy Shih, Sen Chai, Kamen Bliznashki and Courtney Hyland

Gordon Zong is trying to teach Chinese universities and research institutes how to do effective technology transfer and IP licensing, but he is trying to do it in an environment with weak property rights and an underdeveloped support infrastructure. As the managing... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Patents; Knowledge Management; Law Enforcement; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; China

01 Apr 1996
News

Technology for Learning's Sake

In an interview in last December's Bulletin Dean Kim B. Clark talked of launching "a profound transformation around information technology (IT)," an initiative that would earn for the School an unequaled reputation for intelligent,... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg; photo by David Zadig

February 2005 (Revised November 2006)
Case

InfoVision (A): Technology Transfer at Georgia Tech

InfoVision illustrates university technology transfer through the choices of a graduating doctoral student. Also explores the challenges of working across the scientific, business, and legal disciplines in the Georgia Tech transfer program. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Transformation; Higher Education; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Research and Development; Education Industry; Georgia (state, US)