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Business and IP Strategy

Professional Development in Innovation for Multinational Corporation with a Previous Focus on Tobacco Products (2019-2020)

Lib · Dec 7, 2021 ·

Challenge:

A multinational corporation with considerable resources sought to diversify away from its traditional focus upon selling cigarettes and other tobacco-based products into selling non-combustible nicotine-based solutions and other consumer products. As a key element of this initiative, Oxford Oracle was asked to provide its Marketing and Human Resources teams in both the UK and the US with professional development in innovation.

The Oracle’s Solution:

The Oracle commenced this project by undertaking an interview-based scoping exercise with key stakeholders within the organisation to understand their current familiarity with innovation processes, intellectual property, R&D, and legal and practical routes for protecting proprietary materials.  Subsequently, detailed four-day workshops were held face-to-face in both the UK and the US.  The following key topics were covered and investigated in detail:

Innovation CaptureInnovation RoadmappingInnovation Champions
Intellectual Property RightsFreedom to Operate ExercisesMarket Assessments
Open InnovationCross-LicensingPortfolio Management

Action plans for immediate and ongoing execution were created by participants during the workshop and, over the ensuing 12 months, these innovation professionals enjoyed routine access to designated mentors within the Oracle.

Consequential Impact:

Recipients of the professional development and mentorship rated these as excellent (4.8/5) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, reported that the most critical sessions were those in which they created timebound action plans to implement their newly acquired skills and knowledge.  Both mid-term and longer term surveys indicate that the information embedded during the Oracle’s sessions has led to positive changes in organisational processes, to recruitment attitudes and outcomes, to innovation management, to R&D priorities and, indeed, to the products which are now at market.

Establishing a New University in Southeast Asia (2019–2020)

Lib · Jul 30, 2021 ·

Challenge:

A client with extensive interests in retail, consumer-goods manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, and real estate sought to create a new world-class university in Southeast Asia. It wished to do so for social benefit and to fill gaps in the current Higher Education provision.

The Oracle’s Solution:

The Oracle drew on its specialist Higher Education Strategy team to deliver this project which is necessarily elaborate. Several initial on-the-ground fact finding and stakeholder assessment visits were held in-country to define success. A detailed feasibility study and risk analysis was then undertaken over a nine-month period. The client and the national government were furnished with this information and, after minor changes, the proposed initial plans for the university were approved.

Our fellows then contacted tens of potential international partner universities. These institutions were interviewed and shortlisted. Shortlisted partners were then visited and details of the practical and financial models that might underlie an academic partnership between our universities were discussed in detail. The client was provided with detail as well as frank counsel and, based on this information, a decision was made to partner with a leading US university.

Oxford Oracle then went about creating the following key elements of the new university:

  • a management structure
  • a staff recruitment strategy (and undertaking the first six rounds of recruitment)
  • a student recruitment strategy
  • architectural and learning spaces plans (in partnership with a specialist construction consultancy)
  • validated and accredited curricula for both undergraduate and graduate degree programmes
  • a research strategy and policy
  • a commercialisation and knowledge exchange policy
  • financial models and sensitivity analyses for the university’s first ten years

Consequential Impact:

The university was built on time and within the advised budget. It is thriving and is a source of pride to both the client and the nation. Oxford Oracle continues to work with the client and the university.

Pre-Incubator Programme to Improve Venture Capital Outcomes (2020-21)

Lib · Jun 18, 2021 ·

Challenge:

A large venture capital fund with a focus on patient capital approaches sought to establish a pre-incubator programme for new founders and managers who are drawn from university environments. The client was concerned that entrants into its established incubator programme tended to face two key challenges:

  1. They struggled to articulate the customer problem that their business solves.
  2. They were insufficiently prepared to optimise their profitability whilst in the incubator.

The Oracle’s Solution:

The Oracle undertook an interview-based scoping exercise with key stakeholders. Three workshops were then held for both managers within the client organisation as well as by representatives of current incubatee companies. The outcome of these workshops was agreement on ten half-day pre-incubator sessions which were tailored to the priority needs of the start-ups most likely to be admitted into the generously-funded full incubator programme. The pre-incubator programme was then delivered over a three-month period, being adaptively refined over the delivery period in line with beneficiaries’ needs. The base structure for the programme was anchored to the following priorities:

Business ModelsCustomer Conversations
Technology Push vs Market PullProtecting Intellectual Property
Kinetic ExecutionData Commercialisation
Demonstrating Market PotentialRaising Finance
Planning for PitchingExit Opportunities

Consequential Impact:

The pre-incubator programme was conducted for 38 beneficiaries representing 17 start-ups and the feedback was unanimously positive. Several technologies were submitted to the Oracle for Freedom-to-Operate analyses and to obtain IP protections. The client noted in particular that participant interaction during the programme was excellent and that optional post-session clinic sessions were heavily over-subscribed. It was agreed that the programme, as adapted in line with changing needs, is to be delivered annually on a repeat basis.

Ongoing Technology Scouting and Horizon Scanning for Multinational Corporation (2017–2020)

Lib · Nov 8, 2020 ·

Challenge:

A multinational company focussing on consumer electronics sought to improve its early-stage intelligence and market access to six broad technology sectors. They relied on the Oracle to provide these services.

The Oracle’s Solution:

Disciplinary experts were appointed from within the Oracle’s fellowship to head each of the six technology sectors. Each of these lead consultants was then able to rely on the Oracle’s international networks to appoint ad-hoc team members according to the precise expertise required. The Oracle used its existing relationships with universities, independent R & D facilities, research organisations, and SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) around the world to identify emerging technologies with great promise. Shortlists of potentially interesting innovations were created and provided to the client. The client then provided feedback on its priorities and had the opportunity to request further information. Oxford Oracle was also often called upon to undertake IP due diligence and to elucidate issues around IP protection and freedom to operate. Ultimately, for innovations of potential interest, the Oracle undertook “deep-dive” interviews and site visits as well as facilitating direct discussions between the client and the innovators driving the candidate technologies.

Consequential Impact:

In a three-year period, more than 200 innovations from almost 40 countries were shortlisted for the client. Pursuant to client meetings, 140 of these were then earmarked for deep-dive due diligence. Five deals involving company or IP acquisition have been concluded. A number of others are currently progressing positively. Furthermore, several areas of the client’s IP pre-eminence have been augmented and re-inforced. The project continues.

Innovation Support Partnership in the Western Balkans for Development Bank (2017–2020)

Lib · Jun 6, 2020 ·

Challenge:

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development determined to finance projects which would promote entrepreneurship in several Balkan nations and encourage them further towards open market-oriented economies. Part of this initiative included finance for the development of science parks to be tightly articulated with existing multipartite bases of research. These science parks needed to be initiated with optimal processes and ideal initial tenants such that the parks would be maximally successful and enjoy indefinite longevity.

The Oracle’s Solution:

The Oracle deployed a team of fellows who had extensive previous experience in the design, monitoring and management of science parks. This experience covered geographies in Europe, the Middle East, South America and Australasia.

Extensive frameworks of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and priority activities for incubators and technology parks were presented to the Bank and its end beneficiaries for comment, iterative development, and ultimate agreement.

These KPIs and activities were then deployed in the establishment of three science park precincts. Estate partners were appointed and park administrators and champions were recruited. Keystone tenants were identified and incentive schemes were enacted to attract optimal networks of occupants within the parks’ communities. Six months of mentorship was provided to new SME tenants within each park.

Consequential Impact:

The science parks are running successfully and serve as a critical innovation nexus for the universities and research centres which they serve. They are central components of burgeoning, interconnected innovation ecosystems.

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