Enhancing Commercialization Opportunities for Kansas Wheat

Investigation of Novel Intellectual Property Structures and Implementation Strategies

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Vincent Amanor-Boadu, Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, 785-532-3520 (email: vincent@ksu.edu)

INTRODUCTION
For decades, the needs of Kansas wheat producers have been classified broadly into two groups: legislative or regulatory needs; and research needs. This classification supported the organizational structure that was developed to help wheat producers in the state: Kansas Wheat Growers Association was responsible for, broadly speaking, addressing the first group of needs; and Kansas Wheat Commission was responsible for the latter group of needs. A recent cooperative agreement between the two organizations has engendered opportunities to synchronize decision-making and create opportunities to enhance the wealth-creation potential of wheat producers. One approach to achieving this is through active participation in the commercialization of innovations emanating from Kansas Wheat investments in research. To this end, Kansas Wheat, the organization resulting from the cooperative agreement between the two organizations, seeks, among other things, to support and lead the adoption of profitable innovations that contribute to enhancing its members’ wealth. This new strategic orientation is critical to the long-term sustainability of the wheat industry, especially within the context of competition from other crops and the prevailing economic challenges confronting many wheat growers in the state.

However, this proactive effort on the part of Kansas Wheat alters the traditional research funding approach. By being proactive in the selection and support of research and development initiatives with potential to have direct impacts on the wealth situation of Kansas wheat producers, Kansas Wheat is inviting the research community to enter into a new partnership to build a wheat industry that is positioned to thrive despite rapid and complex changes in its marketplace. This invitation rests on Kansas Wheat’s recognition of the increasing importance of science and technology in advancing and sustaining competitiveness.

THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Shepherding, orchestrating and participating in commercialization of innovations are not the traditional business mandate of Kansas Wheat. However, reviews of the challenges confronting its members and the rapidly changing global marketplace make it imperative that it positions itself to help its members maximize the benefits from their investments in research and development. Furthermore, moving the organization from a reactive service provider to a proactive entrepreneurial mindset allows Kansas Wheat to help its members actively participate in new ventures that contribute to transforming their individual businesses as well as their local small town and rural economies. Simultaneously, it provides research institutions with a new partner in the transformation of ideas into valuable products and services contributing to wealth creation.

Despite its inherent logic – i.e., producer organizations investing in research and actively participating in the commercialization of research outcomes – this approach has no obvious precedence in the Kansas wheat industry. Kansas Wheat has maintained an arms length relationship with innovations emanating from its funded research. Therefore, it is imperative that Kansas Wheat develops a clear understanding and appreciation of not just the opportunities but also the challenges embedded in this new venture if it is going to be successful in creating new wealth for its members.

Increasing the understanding and appreciation of the commercialization landscape is the focus of this proposal. Specifically, we ask: How does Kansas Wheat organize itself to effectively participate in the commercialization of innovations emanating from its investments in research? This question leads to the following research questions:

What commercialization opportunities exist in past research outcomes for Kansas Wheat as it embarks on its new “profitability through adoption of innovation” journey?

What are the challenges involved with engaging in the commercialization of innovations given Kansas Wheat’s mandate and how does it overcome them?

How can Kansas Wheat organize itself and its relationships with others in the wheat and wheat products supply chain to effectively participate in the commercialization of innovations emanating from its research investments?

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of this research is to develop a better understanding of how Kansas Wheat can participate more fully in the commercialization of innovations emanating from its funded research initiatives. We believe that Kansas Wheat’s interest in participating in the commercialization of potentially profitable innovations creates a win-win outcome for its members and the research institutions providing research and development services. But more importantly, such an interest shortens the commercialization chain by helping investors and researchers focus on market opportunities when identifying and defining research problems.

The specific objectives of this research project are as follows:

1. Review research that has been funded by Kansas Wheat for the past two decades and evaluate their commercialization outcomes as well as assess the distribution of the rewards along the supply chain from such commercialization, if any.

2. Identify, categorize and analyze the challenges that may confront Kansas Wheat in its effort to participate in the commercialization of innovations emanating from its funded research and develop strategies for minimizing or eliminating the threats posed by these challenges.

3. Identify and evaluate intellectual property structures and policies used by institutions providing funded-research services and compare and contrast them with the structures and policies prevailing at Kansas State University.

4. Develop a model of intellectual property structure that encourages effective and aggressive participation by Kansas Wheat in the commercialization of innovations emanating from its funded-research activities.

5. Develop an effective commercialization model to help Kansas Wheat accelerate the achievement of its vision to enhance profitability through adoption of innovation.

PROJECT METHODS

We propose using two principal approaches to achieve the objectives of this project: (1) Literature review and secondary data analyses; and (2) Conversations with university research leaders, Kansas Wheat officials and relevant industry players. The literature review will encompass academic publications, government documents and industry magazines. Additionally, we will draw on institution databases and student theses and dissertations. We believe that conversations with the appropriate people can provide significant insights into how best to structure a commercialization model for Kansas Wheat based on their knowledge from other initiatives. We propose to include in these conversations University leaders such as Dr. Fred Cholick, Dean of College of Agriculture and Director of K-State Research and Extension; Dr. Forrest Chumley, Associate Director of Agricultural Experimental Stations; and the heads and research leaders in the different departments in the College of Agriculture.

Data from Kansas Wheat and Kansas State University will be used to determine the number, types and investments made by Kansas Wheat in research over the past two decades (Objective 1). We will develop metrics that allow us to assess the commercialization outcomes of the identified research efforts and how the results have been distributed over time. In assessing the distribution of commercialization results, we intend to use the Network Value approach based on the resource-based view of the firm (Penrose, 1959). This approach allows us to capture the direct and indirect benefits from value created throughout the wheat industry’s network, a more comprehensive approach than looking at the linear supply chain effects. Achieving Objective 1 provides us with a framework for assessing the value of commercial potential of research propositions to maximize the total network benefit.

In achieving Objective 2, we propose to review a broad spectrum of the literature to determine, classify and analyze the identified challenges associated with boundary spanning (Gupta et al., 2006), which is what Kansas Wheat will be embarking on with its commercialization efforts. We will also identify how organizational knowledge influences opportunity scoping and execution effectiveness in addressing embedded challenges (McGrath and MacMillan, 2000). We will draw on case examples of how other organizations have dealt with challenges to provide a framework for developing a comprehensive strategy for Kansas Wheat to address identified challenges in each class.

Successful commercialization of innovation rests on the ability to craft and protect intellectual property embedded in the innovation. Different organizations and institutions use different approaches to securing intellectual property and distributing associated benefits from such intellectual property. We will begin with developing a good grasp of the intellectual property policies and structures at K-State. We will then survey the literature to determine the different intellectual property structures at other land grant universities and at institutions with high commercialization outcomes using data from organizations such as Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). We will also converse with as many technology managers at selected research institutions to determine the different modes of intellectual property structures they have and evaluate them for effectiveness in achieving the desired commercialization results (Objective 3). This will provide us with a foundation to craft strategies that allow Kansas Wheat to pursue its objective to enhance the wealth status of Kansas wheat producers through proactive commercialization initiatives for innovations emanating from its research investments (Objective 4).

The results from the previous four objectives will be synthesized into the development of a commercialization model to guide Kansas Wheat in achieving its overall objective of adopting profitable innovations that enhance its members’ wealth (Objective 5). In developing this model, we intend to search the literature as well as enter into conversations with technology managers and commercialization officers at various institutions to learn from them how they have moved innovation through to commercialization. We will consider the various commercialization routes in the development of the commercialization model: licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs, etc. The commercialization model will also cover the distribution of benefits from the commercialization of Kansas Wheat funded-innovations. We will develop a model to help Kansas Wheat manage the distribution of accruing benefits to its members and others in the wheat and wheat products supply chain.

Progress Report

Commercialization Opportunities - 2nd Quarter 2008 Progress Report