eResearch in New Zealand: Overview and Prospect

Seminar Notes:

• Complexity of data, findings, ideas continually increasing.
• Memex (Bush, 1946): external memory for storage/artefacts/experiments.

• Accessibility: Equipment/computation/resources.
• Complexity: Between disciplines.
• Repeatability: Data, models.
• Collaboration: Virtual presence.

• Be able to use resources without knowing/no distinction.
• Centralising data/sharing via the internet.

• GEON: Geosciences Network.
• AuScope

• Research in NZ
• KAREN: Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network.
• BeSTGRID
• Advanced Video Collaboration Center

• Shared data is replicated across servers for local speed up.
• Grid Computing GUI: GRISU, Bioportal
• MyExperiement
• Biomatters
• AARNet

The role of Industry and Universities in developing successful technology Industries

Tony's involvement:

• Governance, Strategy building, Innovation management, Commercialisation of technology, Business growth.
• Phitek, Senztek, Auckland UniServices, Auckland materials accelerator, FRST, Vesper Marine, BEP Marine, SiFE.

Universities:

• Driven by knowledge, not financial success.
• Science led research has long lead times to completion (esp biotech).
• Little knowledge of market and competition.
• Commercialising research:
• validates the quality and relevance of the research.
• builds status.

Companies seldom engage in fundamental research.

University technology transfer companies:

• UniServices: ~80% revenue through contract work.
• Viclink
• Otago Innovation
• Canterprise: works regionally within itself.

Good to go to the company's CEO and build a relationship there.

Good entrepreneurs delegating work to others. Bad entrepreneurs do all the work themselves.

Catch-22 with patent protection: Have to wait for patent to come through before product/service can be released; once you have the patent you need to be prepared to fight infringements - can be a stumbling block for start-ups since cash is limited.

If there's one idea, there must be another that goes with it?

Spark: Ideas 2 Business Workshop

Summary of the workshop:

Venture summary

• Write for the opportunity, not the features. The sections on finance, marketing, etc are there to see if you can follow through with the opportunity.
• What is the unique value proposition? How does it scale if you took the idea out of NZ.
• Risk and reward.
• Having good credentials isn't very important. Venture capitalists/Angels can provide the right people if needed.
• "Tell me what I want to hear so I can get you there".

Teams

• Teams don't have much in way of hierarchy.
• "We're all in this together".
• Technical questions raised within a company usually traverses down through a hierarchy of roles rather than to team; team disintegrates into a hierarchy or responsibilities.
• Keep the differentiation among team members but need to keep the team integrated.

Market validation

• Customers are interested in what they're buying in terms of benefits rather than features.
• What is the pain point? What is the thing that customers feel threatened or incapacitated by?
• "Product/service X has feature Y. So what?"
• Creating a habit.
• Don't have a solution looking for a problem.

Sales and marketing

• Build a relationship.
• Help people buy. Don't sell to them.
• Don't close the sale when people come to you.

Funding

• Sources close to you: Friends, Family, Foes, and Fools.
• Speaker was entertaining so I forgot to write down notes :-p
• Speaker was from the ICE House so a bit of publicity for their funding rounds.

Financials

• Analogy: A person can live on just water for extended periods but cannot live for long with no air. A business can operate with a cash reserve (shareholder funds) for extended periods but cannot operate very long with no cash flow.
• How well can the business turn assets into sales.
• Assets = (Stock + Debtors) + Fixed assets.

Intellectual Property

• Patent -> Time and Money.
• Time to market: Is it worth sacrificing just to get a patent?
• Trade secret: Coke, KFC.
• Copyright is automatic.
• Not much benefit in registering a trademark.
• Case study: Satellite Spies

Product

• Camera accessory: Orbis Flash
• Prototype made.
• Lawyer was consulted on patenting. Non-Disclosure Agreement used when speaking to people about the idea.
• Savings used to create real prototype.
• Simple market validation by asking friends and people on forums.
• Finding the right manufacturer in NZ and China.
• Entrepreneur also needs to be a salesperson.
• Publicity: Forums, email database, website, YouTube, mavens, banner ads, product reviewers.
• Masters Program to give customers ownership of the product success.
• 3rd party logistics for shipping.
• Crossing the chasm. Technology adoption. Each section is vertically integrated but the sections are not horizontally integrated.
• Make. Sell. Count.

• Books:
• The 4 hour Work week
• Crossing the Chasm: Summary
• Tipping point
• Blink

Doctoral forum

Creating the hole and subsequently fulling it. Originality in the title and the thesis. Social changing or general outcome dependent on another outcome. Explicitly say where the thesis is original and valuable.

Originality cannot be measured as there is nothing to measure against.

Use phrases that indicate originality and contribution. "this extends the classical approach" "these findings have the implications"

Coherent story. Clarity of argument. Link between chapters. Don't have a solution hunting for a problem. Incompleteness in ground work.

MCC CMC Markets

Contracts for difference. Entry and exit prices only. Don't own the underlying product.

• Individual share cfd
• Market sectors
• Indices
• Forex and metals
• Treasuries and commodities

Exposure is the killer. Margin call. Can't go below threshold or account will be liquidated.

AUD $10,000

www.babypips.com
www.tradewithprecision.com
www.learncfds.com
www.cfdcalculators.com