Challenge:
A leading UK national research institute which focusses on the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) sought to actively exploit its nascent innovation portfolio for the first time in its history. It acknowledged that its staff had limited experience of negotiating positive commercial outcomes (in general) and in concluding favour licence agreements (in particular).
The Oracle’s Solution:
The institute identified Oxford Oracle as its preferred partner to provide its staff with instruction and exercises based on real-life scenarios. The Oracle’s specialist AHSS fellows designed extensive materials to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges that are available (and sometimes unique to) the sub-disciplines of Economics, Social Wellbeing, and Education. Via a series of three two-day workshops which leveraged scenarios-planning frameworks, we provided practical insights into the opportunities and challenges associated with commercial negotiations in the AHSS.
Consequential Impact:
Immediate feedback from the client was that the workshops were engaging and fun and, just as importantly, their outcomes were actionable. Feedback after nine months was that the template documents provided by the Oracle as well as the pivot points identified in the bespoke scenarios had been deployed and had resulted in the conclusion of favourable deals. The client has gone on to enlist our counsel in subsequent projects.