vladimir marik - czech technical univ - stanford - feb 14 2011

Department of Cybernetics, Czech Technical University

Technology Transfer and Spin-offsat

Czech Technical University(CTU)

Vladimír MAŘÍK

Department of CyberneticsEU Center of Excellence

Czech Technical University in Prague Prague, Czech Republic

[email protected]

http://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/


Established in 1707

2nd oldest Technical University in Europe

24.000 students

A. Einstein, E. Mach, N. Tesla

Czech Technical University in Prague


CTU position in rankings

QS World University Rankings 2010 - Engineering & Technology

1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States

2 Stanford University United States

3 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States

120 Duke University, United States

121 Czech Technical University In Prague Czech Republic

122 École des Ponts, ParisTech France

123= University of Amsterdam A* Netherlands

123= University of Southern California (USC) United States

"Where do we stand globally"

#2 in former Eastern Europe & Russia (after #1 96 Lomonosov Moscow State U.)

#2 in Central Europe (after #1 98 TU Vienna)

We are trying hard (Technology and Engineering ranking):

CTU: 121 (2010), 171 (2009), 228 (2008) , 359(2007).



Research orientation:- Artificial Intelligence - Machine Learning & Robotics- Computer Vision & Perception- Biomedical Engineering

155 academic staff members (110 FTE): 20 faculty members 82 research fellows and 53 Ph.d. students

Mission Objectives: Perform internationally recognized research, build teams of research

excellence Support industrial acceptance of research Demonstrate potential of industry-university cooperation Undergraduate and graduate education in the field of cybernetics

EU Center of Excellence since 2000


Selected Industrial Contracts and Grants

Rockwell Automation: Distributed artificial intelligence

BAE Systems: UAV collision avoidance systems

Medtronic: SW for pacemakers and other medical devices

Honeywell: Observing people with video cameras

TOYOTA Motor Corporation: Computer vision - blue sky research

Volkswagen: Image processing from a moving car

DENSO Automotive: Agent-based on-board car diagnostics

CADENCE Design Systems: Multi-agent modeling of IC design process

Samsung: Reconstruction of images

Google: Image-based search, security systems

Texas Instruments: Control and interfacing of digital cameras

Hitachi: Image processing and face recognition

Siemens: Planning and scheduling for in-store logistics

US Air Force Research Lab, U.S.Navy Research, U.S. Army, NASA: Deployment of Agent-based technology


Department Know-How Transfer Vehicles

Start-up and Spin-off Companies:

CERTICON, a.s.: (100+ employees): Software Development, Network Integration Services, Software Testing, Predictive Algorithms, Planning and Scheduling, ASIC Design

ProTyS, a.s.: (43) Real-time Control Software Development & Testing, Intelligent Control, Fuzzy Logics

NeoVision s.r.o.: (21): Computer Vision

Eydea, s.r.o. (5): Image Processing

Cognitive Security, s.r.o.(2): Network Security

AgentFly Technologies, s.r.o. (2): Air Traffic Control

National Center for Applied Cybernetics (Competence Center):

CTU, TU Brno, WBU, Academy of Science, CertiCon, Neovision+ 7 other companies.

The main goal: Technology Transfer, Spreading Excellence


Czech Institute of Informatics and Cybernetics

• Center of Research Excellence

• 36.000 sqm, 450 researchers

• Incubator (15-20 spin-offs), representative offices of large companies (IBM, Honeywell, Google, Microsoft..)

• State-of-the-art, competitive and self-sustainable institution


Technology Transfer

Technology Transfer Models

- Contracts

- Patents

- Licensing

- Joint Research Labs

- Start-ups (e.g. CertiCon, a.s.)

- Spin-offs (e.g. Cognitive Security, s.r.o.)

- Centers for Technology Transfer (Competence Centers)

- Incubators

- Technology Parks

None of the models can be implemented without efforts of both the stakeholders (university and industry/enterpreneur)


Industrial Stakeholders of the Technology Transfer

AT Departments of the Headquarters of strong international companies or their local branches (Honeywell, Rockwell, IBM, Logica, Toyota, Denso): some of them decided to build a local AT branch (e.g. Honeywell, Rockwell Automation or CA) to leverage the “local” research results

US governmental agencies/services, like US AFRL, ONR, NASA, EPA, FAA, who try to fund/co-fund early stages of very promising research activities

Venture capitalists, usually coming from US, Israel, lately also from India

Local SMEs, e.g. SPEL, Cygni, AWIK, which are looking for governmental support to arrange the transfer


Industrial Stakeholders of the Technology Transfer

Czech companies are usually quite weak and they don’t understand

the need in financial contribution to ensure a smooth technology transfer

that knowledge and IPR play the role of commercial commodities which enter the market

All IPR gained using governmental or public funding belongs to the University, only the specific part of IPR resulting from private/industrial funding belongs to the body which funded it



Business Contracts

- Short-term or long-term

- IPR fully owns the body who provides funding (= industry)

Patents

- no sense to patent in the Czech Republic

- we usually patent in the US using US lawyers, and then extend the patent to cover EU countries and/or Japan

- some patents are joint patents with foreign companies

- in the Czech Republic: industrial pattern is a simple form of invention registration and provides good protection

- in general: patents are expensive and provide good protection only in the case you are really ready to invest enough money (>EUR 1.5 mil) to fight and beat your competitors



Licensing

- currently the most efficient, fast and transparent vehicle for a technology transfer preferred by the University

- the University usually asks for

(i) a small fixed yearly fee, and

(ii) 5-10% of revenue

Joint Research Labs

- very efficient in the case of a long-term cooperation with a strong world leader (Microsoft, Cisco, IBM)

- IPR usually shared by the University and Company, or the Company buys it out

- could potentially be converted into a company subsidiary (this did happen in the case of Rockwell Automation Research Center, Honeywell Technology Center, CA Development Center)



Start-ups

- built by professors as long-term tools for University-Industry transfer – to bridge the gap

- developers and engineers are employed to ensure various phases of the product life cycle (namely design, implementation and testing) exploring innovative ideas provided by the University

- based on licensing of the University IPRs

- the main difficulty: to properly manage the staff flow between the company and the University


CertiCon

• Founded in 1996

• Headquarters in Prague, branch in Pilsen, Vienna-

Austria & San Jose-US (US MAC)

• 100+ SW Engineers & Researchers

• Dun & Bradstreet rating 1A1, DUNS 36-690-9096

• ISO 9001 certification UKAS, ANSI-RAB (BVQI)

• Business focus in consultancy, engineering and

outsourcing services:

• life and mission-critical systems

• decision support and productivity systems

• applied research

• ASIC design, verification and testing

• Revenue $ 8 mil in 2010

• Main customers: Medtronic, Teradyne, Cadence, IBM,

Bosch, Frequentis, Grundfos

http://www.teradyne.com/index.html



Spin-offs

- built to develop a sound idea into a specific product

- oriented to EXIT

- based on licensing of the University IPRs

- they suffer from lack of money

- they look for pre-seed investors and seed capital

- the main difficulty: to find good managers and business oriented leaders (professors and researchers can play this role successfully in exceptional cases, only)

Incubators needed – we are in the initial phase:

- CTU Media Lab

- eClub: joint activity of CTU Media Lab & Credo Ventures

- Linkages with Plug-and-play Center are being built

- Part of the Czech Institute of Informatics and Cybernetics


Cognitive Security Start-up

Mission: Providing attack intelligence and last line of defense against highly sophisticated attackers

Main Product: CognitiveOne is based on the CAMNEP intrusion detection algorithm, developed at CTU. The solution in parts funded by the U.S. Army, CERDEC under a grant W91 1NF-08-1-0250.

The technology spun-off into Cognitive Security s.r.o. by licensing from CTU

History-in-brief:

August 2009 - Cognitive Security was established, CertiCon’s pre-seed funding

January 2010 - CognitiveOne launched as commercial product

April 2010 - Cognitive Security opens branch office in Silicon Valley, (CA, USA), with the support of Czechinvest

November 2010 - Second version of its CognitiveOne product

February 2011 – Talks with a strong investor – Term Sheet to be signed


Centers and Technology Parks

Technology Transfer Centers (Competence Centers):

- efficient if very narrowly focused towards specific technology

- very good experience with virtual competence centers

Technology Parks:

There are 21 of them in the Czech Republic, 2 of them useful

Not very efficient, they don’t satisfy the needs of technology transfer, very bureaucratic

Very dangerous trend: EU funding used to build new buildings for technology parks in regions (out of the capital city of Prague)

CTU Technology Innovation Center:

– 4 administrators paid by the University,

– 4.000 sq feet of space

– provides space, courses

– no links with enterpreneurs, venture capitalists

– no guidance, no motivation


Government Financing Schemes

The Government Financing Schemes for the early stages of the spin-of companies mainly aimed at support of competence centers and technology parks and explore – as a rule – the structural EU funding for this purpose. These schemes provide just an indirect support to spin-off and start-ups.

New trend (under implementation) in 2011: Direct support to spin-offs and start-ups:

Pre-seed fund - $ 30 mil.

Seed fund - $ 70 mil.

These funds will be managed by experienced venture capitalists who promised to add $ 50 mil.

CTU: University Challenge Fund of $ 250 k to provide pre-seed capital


Professors and Spin-offs

There are no principle obstacles to form a spin-off by professors, CTU supports their initiatives, but certain rules should be followed:

Their business and academic activities should be clearly separated

Either licencies should be paid (5-10% of revenue and/or exit price) or shares of the company (20-30%) are awarded to the University for exchange of IPR

Main obstacles:

Some professors not motivated enough, wanting to live in their academic shells

No reasonable advice provided at critical junctions (opportunity recognition, business visions and plans, no links to experienced spin-off advisors)


Conclusions

Technology and innovative solutions available, many results cannot be absorbed by local industry

University management support to technology transfer provided, very friendly atmosphere/environment

Motivation and enthusiasm of researchers – in general - present, funding is missing

There is no efficient University infrastructure and environment to absorb the funding (if there is any) in an appropriate way

Lack of tradition and experience in venture investments

We are trying to find the optimal methods for technology transfers and spin-offs

Licensing, start-ups and spin-offs are the most popular technology transfer methods


Conclusions

Government Financing Schemes are starting to directly help to spin-offs financially:

Czechinvest governmental agency: has selected the Plug-and-Play Center as a place to learn, helps to bring spin-offs to Silicon Valley to gather experience

Support to private companies acting as technology transfer bodies –privatization of the technology transfer area strongly needed

vladimir marik - czech technical univ - stanford - feb 14 2011

Technology

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