TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN EMERGING ECONOMIES Tbilisi Georgia March

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN EMERGING ECONOMIES Tbilisi, Georgia March 31 st, 2017 OMER HIZIROGLU, CLP PARTNER TWITTER: @omerhizir

Problem • Division of global wealth in a Global economy • Sustainable economic development • Middle income trap • Life quality • Innovation based competitiveness: Transition from efficiency driven economy to innovation driven economy

Premise • Emerging economies in a classic, capital driven economy. • What competitive advantage? • Scalability? France vs. Germany • “Technology in” vs. “Technology out”: The value added • Compete: • Low labor / raw material costs • No innovation but good products ( r & D)

Catching up • Unequal distribution of wealth • Flow of capital & technology is conditional • Gap on availability of resources • State of mind a long history • Political and legal stability • Strong IPR regimes and vibrant SMEs • Europe : 1 in 3 jobs out of IP intensive industries

IPR and the challenge for emerging economies • Driving force of global economy is no longer Capital (in the hands of the few) but Intellectual Capital (globally available) • If the use of Intellectual Capital is incentivized and maximized: a unique opportunity to become globally competitive. How?

A Paradigm shift • Innovation • Invention • Technology • The Startup / University medium for diffusion • Globalization and flow of information • Technology, innovation and foreseeable legal infrastructure to fuel economic transformation:

Thus, the focus: • SMEs drive most major economies • SMEs and Universities are the source of major innovative activity • Universities creating technology competitive SMEs • Globalization is a fact and information is widely accessible (and is critical to have access to)

Technology transfer «Technology transfer is a term used to describe formal transfer of rights to use and commercialize new discoveries and innovations resulting from scientific research to another party» (AUTM definition)

From “Wealth of Nations” • “…raw labor is of little value. How labor is applied - how it is managed and directed, the tools provided and the skills with which it is endowed determine the vast majority of its value” • “…raw technology is of little value. How technology is applied - how it is managed and directed, the tools provided and the skills with which it is endowed - determine the vast majority of its value”

Thus: • Raw technology is of little value. How it is used, diffused and managed, determines and realizes its real value. • Innovation is the ability to transform information to knowledge that has commercial application

Role of Universities • The cluster of a nation’s largest intellectual capital • Turning universities into a “start up factory” • Start up > SME > MNC

Role of Universities http: //www. onlineuniversities. com/blog/2012/08/100 -important-innovations-that-came-from-university-research/

Goal and role of University TT To bring university research to the market in the most efficient and speedy way possible

Traditional View • University develops a technology • Secures a patent • Licenses it to a Startup • Startup gets money • Everybody is happy

From Lab to Market, Challenges • • • Research capacity, basic vs. applied research IP awareness & ownership Licensing opportunities Legal and basic infrastructures TT capacities and positive climate for TT activities Entrepreneurship ecosystem • Universities, as NPEs are not equipped to independently commercialize technology without interfaces • Most university born technology is not market ready and require: • Further investment • Business savviness

For University TTOs • TT is a complex business: Trained professionals • Rembrandts in the attic: Before patent licensing, identify, mine out and transfer know-how • When it comes to IP: quantity never has a quality of its own!

Role of the Government • Gov’t must be an “enabler” • To much regulation is counterproductive • Update legal infrastructure to address challenges • Internet, 3 D printing, Capital flows, Creation of startups • Create a culture • Transparency + legal infrastructures + ability to tolerate failures ( Kenneth Morse) • Create a competitive landscape to secure gov’t funding • Beware of “fund addicts” and “Zombies” on life support

Parting toughts • Technology flow from innovative North to non-innovative South, impact on distribution of income (Krugman, 1979) • «World is flat» (Friedman, 2005) and Globalization • Flow and availability of information • Strong highly skilled diaspora • Collaborations and open innovation

THANKS! Any questions? @omerhizir omer@dcp. vc www. dcp. vc