Technology Commercialization

A vital component of China's reforms in the area of science and technology (S&T) activities during the last two decades has been to improve the commercial exploitation of technology generated in research institutes. This paper analyses the various concepts and measures introduced to guide policies for the commercialization of technology. It examines various approaches employed by the Chinese government in the light of theories of market-pull innovation and public choice, illustrating the achievements gained and problems encountered in the process of commercializing technology in China.

The Triple Helix model highlights the "third mission" of universities to engage in IP (intellectual property) creation and technology transfer activities further downstream. This paper uses publications data and US patent data to examine the role played by leading research-intensive universities in the national innovation systems of the emerging economy of China and the newly industrialised economies (NIE) of Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. Our analysis highlights significant differences amongst these five East Asian economies, and also reveals contrasts to observed patterns in the US and Europe. Our findings confirm that universities in the five economies have increased their contribution to their respective national innovation systems in terms of research output and R&D collaboration.  The NIE universities experienced rapid patent growth rates over 1995-2005, followed by Chinese universities in the subsequent period of 2006-2010.  However, the contribution of universities in all five East Asian economies to the total volume of IP creation in their economies generally remains low.  Moreover, patent quality is low compared to patents from non-university sectors, suggesting weak technological commercialisation impacts.

The mobile microinsurance marketing plan boasts itself as it highlights the overview of the mobile microinsurance industry, its current market condition, its external and internal factors driving and affecting its growth, its competition arena, and its key players through the lenses of different stakeholders.

The paper describes the current marketing situation of the mobile microinsurance industry as it gives a thorough narrative on the market trends of the said industry both in the perspective of the local and international arena. It gives a bird’s eye view of the current battlefield of the said industry by illustrating the interconnection of various players and its roles in the industry. Moreover, the paper prides itself in showing the target market’s behavior which can be later used in formulating strategies for capturing the target market.

The paper also emphasizes various macro and micro environmental forces that can greatly affect the mobile microinsurance industry. As such, pertinent examples are also illustrated in order to prove that such factors should not be overlooked in order to maximize the benefits it may enjoy on successful mobile microinsurance product launch.

After discussing the foregoing concepts, the paper moves on to propose appropriate and winning marketing strategies based on grounded principles and proven success stories in other countries with similar situations and challenges faced by the existing regulatory environment of the Philippines. The proposed marketing strategy also identifies clear marketing and financial objectives so as to position the mobile microinsurance product well that can attract customers. It also seeks to have the firm cross the technology chasm in the shortest possible period while maximizing and enjoying the benefits of such strategies.

Furthermore, the proponents recommended various marketing mixes that clearly define the advertising and branding strategies that are founded on marketing principles across the diffusion curve.

The proponents well understand the value of effective pricing strategies for mobile microinsurance aim for low-cost, high-volume business. As such, this paper gives suggestions for various pricing options that can cater the marginalized and low-income earners which are the target market of the mobile microinsurance industry.

Moreover, the paper gives an in-depth market research that is sourced from consultations and interviews gathered from various relevant stakeholders from the regulatory sector, mobile microinsurance providers, down to its potential customers.

An in-depth financial forecast of sales and revenue for the next 3 to 5 years is also included in this paper. It analyses the possible profit and losses of the firm and how marketing could affect these movements of the firm’s money. A marketing budget is proposed in this paper to allow insight on the different activities that will entail in the marketing plan, coupled with the equivalent costs for each activity.

Finally, the aforementioned strategies, after taking into consideration various concepts and all reasonable risks, the paper gives detailed implementation measures and contingency measures should the plan fail to materialize.

GCash Insure provides a way to protect every Filipino through affordable comprehensive insurance. It uses microinsurance to bridge the lower financial bracket to a better financial plan. In this paper, we propose an integration of GCash Insure to the GCash mobile application by creating a separate module for monitoring and control of the user’s policy. Through the module, users can avail a microinsurance policy, upgrade their current policies, pay for their policies, view and monitor their policies, add dependents, and inquire more about GCash Insure. Different technologies were advised to be included in the module to empower users with the best customer experience. This paper also includes the current pricing strategy and what needs to be enhanced and considered for the long run. Activities internal and external to the organization were also proposed to have a strong primary and secondary brand knowledge.

Cash has still been the preferred payment method of the Filipino majority—amounting to 51.3% of the population; while there were only 7.1% that prefer using mobile phone or app payments (TheNerve, 2019).

Despite the cash-heavy transactions of the country, a recent report from Oliver Wyman, an international management consulting firm, forecasts a gradual decrease of transaction share of cash but a steady increase of transaction share of e-money from 2018 to 2022 (Woods, George, & Pardiwalla, 2018) and TheNerve (2019) noted this as a 116% compound annual growth rate. This can be seen in the aforementioned 2018 3rd quarter Financial Inclusion report by BSP (2018) which noted a growth of 6 million pesos (or 9.2%) in inflow transactions and 18 million pesos (or 6%) in outflow transactions from 2016 to 2017.

The motivation for innovation in the e-Money industry can be attributed to the power of the consumers as they are the primary users of the technology and ultimately, their adoption would dictate the success or failure of the innovation. Although it is also relevant to point that merchant adoption and the whole ecosystem may also influence the motivation for innovation, in the end, consumer adoption would still outweigh the other.

Numerous researches have focused on studying consumer adoption to identify the antecedents or drivers that influence technological adoption by consumers. Studies concluded that consumer adoption factors of e-Money technology are security, cost, convenience, characteristics of mobile service provider, characteristics of mobile payment vendor, characteristics of mobile technology, disposition of trust, and disposition of culture. These factors provide basis to the development of radical or incremental innovations in the e-Money industry. The high mobile penetration and tech-savviness of Filipinos also makes the Philippines a mobile money innovation hub. GSMA noted that the dramatic rise in smartphone adoption has been one of the factors in the increasing adoption of Filipinos (Pasti, 2019) despite the country’s lagging Internet speed.

The e-money has several use cases that drive its economic forces across the country’s economy. It ranges from airtime load top-up, bills payment, online shopping, transportation payment, insurance payment, ticket purchase, social media payments, QR code payment, NFC payment, e-money transfer, to B2C payment (Miroshnichenko, 2015). A survey report conducted by TheNerve (2019) accounted online shopping as the top use case of e-money; followed by bills payment and e-money transfer. Moreover, GSMA listed “domestic remittance needs” as one of the six primary conditions that contributed to the development of e-money in the Philippines (Hasnain, 2016). The development of this condition is due to the common Filipino practice wherein the breadwinner of the family goes to a highly urbanized region, like Metro Manila, and regularly sends money back to his/her home province (TheNerve, 2019).

GSMA (2016) also highlighted the low banking penetration as another driver of e-money in the Philippines. In 2017, the banked penetration rate stands at 34.5%. This means that 70 million or 65% of the Filipinos are still unbanked—a large avenue to drive financial inclusion through e-money.

The introduction of e-Money technology like G-Cash and Smart Money in the early 2000s in itself was a radical innovation and could possibly become a threat to banking and credit card technology. This technology fosters financial inclusion in the market as it taps both the banked and unbanked users. One doesn’t need a bank account in order to use e-Money as it utilizes a user’s mobile phone through SIM-based remittances and micro-payments, making use of a vast network of agents, such as sari-sari stores, to facilitate the cash- in and cash-out transactions.

Incremental innovations have thereafter followed with the introduction of phone applications or ‘apps’ that complement this technology by allowing users to monitor their balances, pay bills and even remit money (P2P) on their own through the apps.

The move for e-Money providers to transform into the ultimate lifestyle super app also encourages incremental innovation in terms of apps’ program and features. This new model is when existing apps branch out to other services apart from their initial intended service. A prime example would be Grab, which started as a ride-hailing app and has recently expanded their services to courier and food delivery.

Competitors dominate the e-money market by having the following characteristics: have existing partnerships, have an existing customer base, can be easily integrated in other platforms, have little to no transaction, convenience or additional fees, and offer rewards, incentives, or rebates.

Alternatives for mobile phones as storage devices for e-Money are also being introduced in the market. Biochips are devices embedded in a person’s body, often under the skin, which stores your e-Money, train tickets and can even act as keys to doors (Agence France-Presse, 2018). There may come a time when biotechnology will be the centralized adaptation of both the biotechnology and fin-technology industries, which may greatly affect the e- money value chain.

The industry value chain can be categorized into two major areas: one is content, another is infrastructure and services. Under the content area, there are three main parts: content creation, content packaging, and market making. Infrastructure and services also have three main parts: mobile transport, mobile services and delivery transport, and mobile interface and application.

Different firms in the Philippines, banks and non-banks, have adopted e- money. They compete for high API integration, updated infrastructures, an omnichannel banking strategy, customer convenience, strong security, and best blockchain technology adaptation.

E-money has different suppliers involved in the industry, including network operators, technology suppliers, authoring tools, application development tools, and mobile service technologies. Currently, cloud computing is the most popular and advanced tool in using e-money.

On a business standpoint, the only barriers to entry are the required high paid-up capital and the required high-level of technical skills. After passing through the said barrier, since the Philippines has a good enabling environment, the next battle will be competing with incumbent players in the industry—having a portion of the market share pie.

The mobile microinsurance marketing plan boasts itself as it highlights the overview of the mobile microinsurance industry, its current market condition, its external and internal factors driving and affecting its growth, its competition arena, and its key players through the lenses of different stakeholders.

The paper describes the current marketing situation of the mobile microinsurance industry as it gives a thorough narrative on the market trends of the said industry both in the perspective of the local and international arena. It gives a bird’s eye view of the current battlefield of the said industry by illustrating the interconnection of various players and its roles in the industry. Moreover, the paper prides itself in showing the target market’s behavior which can be later used in formulating strategies for capturing the target market.

The paper also emphasizes various macro and micro environmental forces that can greatly affect the mobile microinsurance industry. As such, pertinent examples are also illustrated in order to prove that such factors should not be overlooked in order to maximize the benefits it may enjoy on successful mobile microinsurance product launch.

After discussing the foregoing concepts, the paper moves on to propose appropriate and winning marketing strategies based on grounded principles and proven success stories in other countries with similar situations and challenges faced by the existing regulatory environment of the Philippines. The proposed marketing strategy also identifies clear marketing and financial objectives so as to position the mobile microinsurance product well that can attract customers. It also seeks to have the firm cross the technology chasm in the shortest possible period while maximizing and enjoying the benefits of such strategies.

Furthermore, the proponents recommended various marketing mixes that clearly define the advertising and branding strategies that are founded on marketing principles across the diffusion curve.

The proponents well understand the value of effective pricing strategies for mobile microinsurance aim for low-cost, high-volume business. As such, this paper gives suggestions for various pricing options that can cater the marginalized and low-income earners which are the target market of the mobile microinsurance industry.

Moreover, the paper gives an in-depth market research that is sourced from consultations and interviews gathered from various relevant stakeholders from the regulatory sector, mobile microinsurance providers, down to its potential customers.

An in-depth financial forecast of sales and revenue for the next 3 to 5 years is also included in this paper. It analyses the possible profit and losses of the firm and how marketing could affect these movements of the firm’s money. A marketing budget is proposed in this paper to allow insight on the different activities that will entail in the marketing plan, coupled with the equivalent costs for each activity.

Finally, the aforementioned strategies, after taking into consideration various concepts and all reasonable risks, the paper gives detailed implementation measures and contingency measures should the plan fail to materialize.

GCash Insure provides a way to protect every Filipino through affordable comprehensive insurance. It uses microinsurance to bridge the lower financial bracket to a better financial plan. In this paper, we propose an integration of GCash Insure to the GCash mobile application by creating a separate module for monitoring and control of the user’s policy. Through the module, users can avail a microinsurance policy, upgrade their current policies, pay for their policies, view and monitor their policies, add dependents, and inquire more about GCash Insure. Different technologies were advised to be included in the module to empower users with the best customer experience. This paper also includes the current pricing strategy and what needs to be enhanced and considered for the long run. Activities internal and external to the organization were also proposed to have a strong primary and secondary brand knowledge.

This Article provocatively asserts that lawmakers should weaken patents significantly—by between 25% and 50%. The primary impetus for this conclusion is the underappreciated effects of new and emerging technologies, including three-dimensional printing, synthetic biology, and cloud computing. These and other technologies are rapidly decreasing the costs of each stage of the innovation cycle: from basic research, through inventing and prototyping, to marketing and distribution. The primary economic theories supporting patent law hold that inventors and innovators need patents to recoup the costs associated with research, inventing, and commercializing. Because new technologies have begun—and will continue—to dramatically decrease these costs, the case for weakening patents is ripe for analysis.

Novel findings on fabrication techniques for bioactive materials, discovering further basic knowledge about wound healing process, and availability of stem cells as alternative candidate for differentiated cells have highly encouraged scientists for developing new bioengineered skin substitutes (BSS) that offer an effective remedy for a specific wound type. However, technical, clinical, legislative and economic reasons hamper widespread commercialization and clinical translation of BSS. Among the various types of strategies that target skin repair and regeneration, tissue engineering with stem cells is most promising route. Tissue engineering by cooperation of several disciplines forms a context on which the commercial development of BSS is possible to provide benefits for patients who currently have limited or no cure options. The principles of tissue engineering are to initiate cell cultures in vitro, grow them in monolayer or on porous scaffolds and transplant the composite into a patient with a specific wound indication in vivo. The potential for creating of custom-designed biomaterials and availability of stem cells from either autologous or allogenic sources have helped to produce novel innovative BSS. Currently, wide range of skin substitutes are already being fabricated for clinical use in different wound indications but not yet definitively established. Therefore, many novel engineered constructs might be fabricated in the future. In this review, we describe the progress that has been made to date in the field of skin substitutes and the critical issues that are still hindering successful production and bench to bedside translation of BSS and restricting the availability of these innovative therapeutic constructs. Integrity of the science and technology, interdisciplinary expertise collaborations, and early interaction with regulatory entities such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA), together with other critical determinants, is vital to the successful commercialization of tissue engineering products into the marketplace/clinic.

The term " Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) " has been increasingly used for over a decade. The RRI concept is not currently well defined. The theory of RRI is not developed enough and there are still conceptual divergences. This paper introduces the issue of Responsible Research and Innovation and addresses the following key questions: How do we define RRI? Where do we stand in terms of understanding the RRI dimensions presented in literature? What is the role of RRI in the university technology transfer activity? The study is based on literature search on the Scop‑ us (www.scopus.com), EBSCO (www.ebsco.com), Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) and Google Books (books.google.com) databases to obtain articles published in peer reviewed journals, related to the concept of RRI and technology transfer. The search terms (for title and topic) were: responsi‑ ble innovation, responsible research and innovation, RRI, technology transfer. Critical analysis of the state of knowledge allowed to propose a set of seven conceptual dimensions (inclusion, anticipation, responsiveness, reflexivity, sustainability, care and economic) of the Responsible Research and Inno‑ vation concept that may be implemented in technology transfer processes executed at universities. RRI concept is still under development. A discussion around the conceptual dimensions of RRI will be followed by the strategic challenges of universities. The study resulted in two conclusions. Firstly, the RRI concept may shift the focus of TTOs (Technology Transfer Offices) from outcomes (revenues, cash flow, rate of return, patents, license fee, etc.) to processes, which further leads to the second con‑ clusion, that all seven presented conceptual dimensions should indicate particular types of processes in university TTO. Fulfillment of these two conclusions makes possible to implement RRI on university in a wider perspective, than just fulfill the requirements of administrative funders.

As the traditional role of academic subject librarian evolves to that of a partner in research and innovation, citation analysis and visualization studies are emerging as a valuable contribution to the process. Bibliometrics, or citation analysis, studies quantitative aspects of published information and allows researchers to analyze the dissemination of knowledge within research areas. An increased demand for these analyses is likely, particularly in support of technology commercialization initiatives. Using readily available open access tools, the authors review current techniques for identifying emerging research fronts and illustrate the process with step-by-step methodology. Subject librarians should be able to apply this technique in any research field. For the purposes of this study, citations were examined to identify research fronts in the emerging field of the "Internet of Things" (IoT).