Tech Transfer in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

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Frank Born

Mr Born founded the CAESAR Group along with Dr Kevin Kwiat to facilitate the transfer of Air Force technology to the commercial sector. Prior to this he was a research scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome NY. Mr Born has degrees in both Physics and Mechanical Engineering.

Latest posts by Frank Born (see all)

• Patenting Survey - February 24, 2020
• Tech Transfer in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem - June 12, 2019
• AFRL Tech Portfolio - October 10, 2018

 In  April of this year, New York State held their annual Intercollegiate Business Plan Competition in Albany NY (NYSBPC). In conjunction with the competition was a meeting of Angel Investors and an  Expo where many service providers set up booths.

  While speaking with a group of attendees after the Angel Investors meeting, I realized that I was way out of my element when the discussion turned to something called “SAFEs”. I knew that they were not talking about the thing you find behind a picture on the wall, but I had no clue what they were referring to. Simple Agreement For Equity (SAFE) is a name coined in 2014 for small equity investments in the very early stage of a business or product development. Other discussions that evening were more in my ballpark but still centered around words that I had no working knowledge of such as valuation, seed funding, and series A funding.

  The next day, during the Business Plan Competition, the booths at the Expo were filled with advisors, investors, marketing personnel, incubators, accelerators and mentors. Once again, as a Tech Transfer Specialist, I was out of my element – or was I?

At the conclusion of the Business Plan Competition and Expo it occurred to me that of all the services being offered at the Business Plan Competition the only organizations helping startups find cutting edge technology were the CAESAR Group and the SUNY Research Foundation. Sure, startups are built on an idea and vision, and often cannot exist without the services being offered at the Expo, but technology is often the secret sauce that makes or breaks a fledgling organization. On the business side, technology can help reduce the staff required to keep up with customers, suppliers, competitors and market trends. More importantly, new technology is often the centerpiece of businesses that create new markets or capture market share from established businesses.

  AFRL is in the business of developing technology for the warfighter, but that warfighter is often dealing with the same type of issues that modern businesses must deal with. Technology developed at AFRL in Information Management, Cyber Security, Video Processing, Data Mining, Data Analytics often applies equally well to both the military and commercial industry. Further, the US government has mandated that this technology be commercialized to the greatest extent possible.

 In retrospect, pondering the question “Was I out of my element?”  reveals that I was not. Instead, experience with equating the military and commercial industry’s technological needs has shown that it can be elemental for attaining rapid success with business ideas and product development.    What types of technology are you looking for?