Progress 10/15/11 to 03/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Independent inventors and companies with research/new product development ideas. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Results from this work have guided continued development and expansion of The New Product Development Center at OSU during the life of the project. The New Product Development Center continued to provide business assessment, prototyping, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering assistance as well as SBIR proposal and other grant proposal writing assistance to faculty, independent inventors, and companies interested in commercializing inventions that originated on- and off-campus. This work was mostly done by non-tenure-track faculty, staff and students supported by grants and contracts funded by numerous state and federal agencies. More than 100 different undergraduate and graduate students were provided work and training opportunities in mechanical, electrical, industrial and chemical engineering, agricultural economics, agricultural communication, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, and accounting. In some cases, tenure-track faculty researchers provided technical advice and assistance in support of projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?During this project on-line modules for prospective inventors were created and posted. These educational modules have been accessed 11,000 times. Information about how the New Product Development Center operates was shared with diverse audiences at national and state supported conferences and professional meetings as previously reported. Three on-campus state-wide seminars for inventors were conducted for on-campus and off-campus inventors. In the last year of the project, the New Product Development Center has cooperated with the Small Business Development Center management in Oklahoma to create Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) in Stillwater and Tulsa to support technology commercialization. The staff of these centers will not be tenure-track faculty. The availability of technology development support has been disseminated through the SBDC network of centers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the final three months of the project, previous econometric results were reconfirmed. During the life of the project, data about technology policies at 86 land-grant and non-land grant public and private research universities in the U.S. were collected. The data sample included nearly all land-grant public universities, non-land-grant universities in the same state as well as private research universities. Data on the number of active technology licenses, licensing revenue, faculty numbers and quality, technology disclosures, research expenditures, number of years the university has had a technology transfer office, individual faculty inventor incentives, the mission and objectives of the technology transfer office, and location of the university relative to companies that license university technologies were collected. Data sources included the Statistics Access for Tech Transfer (STATT) published by the Association of Technology Managers (AUTM) for the years 2008-2012, North America's High-Tech Economy: The Geography of Knowledge-Based Industries published by the Milken Institute based on the year 2007, A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States by the National Research Council based on the academic year 2005-2006, and university intellectual property policies from each individual university were collected. Based on the literature and prior research, a two equation recursive model is used to explain variation in technology disclosures and outputs from technology transfer efforts. The first equation found that technology disclosure. The following factors enhance university technology disclosures: high quality faculty, technology transfer office staff size, and research expenditures. This study also found that technology disclosures are not positively related to revenue sharing incentives to university scientists. Technology transfer outputs include the number of licenses executed, licenses generating income, cumulative active licenses, and licensing income. The results suggest that technology transfer outputs are significantly related to number of technology disclosures. The conflict between the faculty member's desire to publish quickly in a peer-reviewed journal in order to gain tenure and promotion and the delay required to license and commercialize technology is obvious. Peer-reviewed publication may constitute prior disclosure and make patenting more difficulty. In addition, disclosure may reduce the value of any patent by placing the science supporting the patent in the public domain. Possible solutions to this dilemma include creating a system of peer-reviewed disclosures that would be equivalent to peer-reviewed journal articles in tenure and promotion processes. A second solution would be to hire research faculty who are not attempting to progress through departmental tenure and promotion policies to work on projects deemed to have commercialization potential. In addition to the above work, numerous specific technology assessment projects were completed under this project that involved independent inventors and private companies and have previously been reported.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/15 to 03/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Materials developed may be utilized as stand-alone resources or as supplements for training sessions. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Publications are available through university training modules. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Project Director has retired. No further plans at this time.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Publications were developed to assist inventors and investigators with invention, innovation, and intellectual property issues.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Tilley, D., Reinman, S. C. Neill, K. Buerger, J. Stewart, and L. Allmon. 2013 "Ideas vs. Inventions: An Introduction to Intellectual Property Protection". Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Buerger, K., J. Stewart, C. Neill, D. Tilley, S. Reinman, and L. Allmon. 2013. "Questions to ask before applying to the IAS". Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Stewart, J., K. Buerger, C. Neill, D. Tilley and L. Allmon. 2013. "How to Apply to the Inventor's Assistance Service". Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Tilley, D., S. Reinman, K. Buerger, J. Stewart and L. Allmon. 2013. Introduction to Patents and the Patent Process. Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences for this project in 2014/15 includes independent inventors, companies with research/new product development ideas and proposals, and faculty peers with an interest in innovation activities in which students can be engaged. The focus is on multidisciplinary teams addressing innovations faced by those in the target communities. These audiences are reached through the activities of the New Product Development Center (NPDC) at OSU. NPDC partners in this effort include the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, and Invention to Enterprise (i2E). On campus support comes from the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology and the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. NPDC is completed the third year of Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge grant that focused on 42 Oklahoma Counties with less than 80 percent of average U.S. per capita income. The grant was jointly sponsored by the National Institute of Science and Technology, Small Business Administration, the Department of Labor, the Department of Energy, and the Economic Development Administration. In addition to this support, we completed work on a Phase I SBIR proposal with Hill Manufacturing and continued operating the Oklahoma Inventor's Assistance Service. On July 1, 2015 we established the Center for Technology Commercialization with the support of the Oklahoma Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). The Center for Technology Commercialization establishes the SBDC network as another key partner institution. Changes/Problems:The project PI is retiring in January 2016. The New Product Development Center has entered into a contract with the Small Business Administration to create the Center for Technology Commercialization, Small Business Development Center at Oklahoma State University. The Director of the center has been hired and will be responsible for providing business assessment of technology as well as commercialization assistance to inventors and companies. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As reported above, 30 undergraduate student interns worked on various aspects of NPDC and IAS projects for companies and inventors. These students learned how to professionally address business, engineering, and communication challenges and to work on innovation teams. The companies were provided with engineering and business information that should improve decision making. One graduate student completed her M.S. thesis during the reporting period. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A paper was presented at the NACTA meetings in Athens, Georgia in June 2015. The Oklahoma Inventor's Congress was hosted in Stillwater in August 2015 with 30 people in attendance. Then Inventor's Assistance Service Website continues to be maintained. We received 11,000 visits to the site and had 880 uses of one or more of our educational modules about the invention process. Many analyses are done for specific inventions and products and the results are presented in confidential reports.. Clients receive evaluation reports, drawings, prototypes, and commercialization assistance as part of the scopes of work for each project. These reports and materials are confidentially supplied to the companies and individuals who are engaged with NPDC/IAS projects. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As previously stated, the project PI will retire.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Project reports and results were provided confidentially to all of our Advanced Manufacturing, Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge grant client companies as well as our inventors engaged in the program. Some of the work done is in the public domain. The desirability of alternative methods of electronically monitoring cattle was completed. The results indicate producers are interested in an electronic monitoring that is affordable and enables them to monitor their animals' well-being. Producers place a low importance on unmanned aerial vehicles as a system component. Thus, producers are not highly concerned with the method allowing them to collect animal location and health statistics, as long as they are able to collect the desired information. Producers who are highly educated, producers how own large numbers of cattle, and producers who do not frequently check their cattle have the highest likelihood of adoption. An electronic monitoring system allows producers to more closely monitor their animals in a timely manner. Therefore, when creating an electronic cattle monitoring system, it is most important to provide producers with the ability to check their cattle's location and behavior, and producers are willing to pay the most for system characteristics that allow them to do this. Furthermore, initial marketing efforts should be directed toward large operations and producers with higher levels of education. An evaluation of alternative bulk cattle feed acquisition and feeding systems is underway with a focus on producers with 50 head or fewer cattle. A spread sheet has been developed that allows producers to access whether investments in feeding equipment are justified if they allow purchase of bulk rather than bagged feed. The analysis allow producers to specify the value of their time, costs of fuel, amount of supplemental feed used, the difference between the price of bulk versus bagged feed, and their current equipment complement. Capital investments required for an alternative system are then specified and the return on that investment and payback period are calculated. The spread sheet and the proposed Fact Sheet are in review and should be completed in the next six months. In the process of completing the spread sheet, a complete analysis of alternative supplemental feeding systems was done. In addition, a business plan was prepared for a company desiring to compete in the supplemental feeding system market was written and provided to the company. The plan included a comprehensive cost and competitive analysis along with distribution network alternatives and production targets for the enterprise to be profitable. Work on a Phase I, USDA SBIR proposal with Hill Manufacturing was completed. The work included redesign of an existing product, design of a new product, and business analysis of the product and competitive environment. A Phase II USDA proposal was prepared submitted but was not funded. A chemical engineering project to improve cedar oil extraction technologies has been initiated. Cedar trees in Oklahoma are an invasive species that reduce the quality and quantity of grazing in pastures. Developing value-added products from harvested trees would provide additional incentives for removal and increase grazing capacities of pastures.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Tilley, Daniel S. and Robert Taylor. Creating an On-Campus, Multidisciplinary, Experiential Learning Ecosystem for Students to Solve Engineering and Business Problems for Companies. Oral presentation NACTA 2015 Annual Meetings, Athens, Georgia. Published Abstract, NACTA Journal 59, Supplement 1, June 2015, p. 32.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Anderson, Justin, Tilley, Daniel and R. Joe Schatzer. Exam Score Determinants in an Undergraduate Agricultural Economics Class . Poster presentation at the NACTA 2015 Annual Meetings Athens, Georgia. Published Abstract. NACTA Journal 59, Supplement 1. June 2015, p. 82.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Tilley, Daniel S. NPDC/Inventors Assistance Service Update. Presentation to the Oklahoma Inventors Congress, Stillwater, Oklahoma, August 8, 2015.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Allmon, Lori D. Will Cattle Producers be Willing to Adopt Electronic Cattle Monitoring Systems?, M.S. Thesis, Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, December 2014. 111 pp.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
New Product Development Center at Oklahoma State University, https://npdc.okstate.edu/
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Inventors Assistance Service at Oklahoma State University, https://ias.okstate.edu/
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Unchanged Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Dr. Robert Taylor, Director of the Inventors' Assistance Service (IAS) met with inventors and supervised designs. Heather Lewis, Design Engineer, New Product Development Center, met with inventors and supervised interns. Jennifer Vinyard, Senior Design Engineer, New Product Development Center assisted with design evaluations. Cooperating faculty include Chris Richards, Animal Science, Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo, Animial Science, Jamey Jacob, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Allen Apblett, Chemistry. More than 30 business and engineering student interns assisted with the development of reports, drawings, prototypes and design analyses. The Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology provides funding for IAS activities. The Oklahoma Inventors' Congress organized program content and assisted with conducting workshops for inventors. Federal Agencies that have provided support include USDA, NSF, NIST, DOE, DOL, SBA, and EDA. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Disseminated in various professional outlets and training-modules. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? For 2014-15, accomplishments will include: 1) completion of the work on the five agency grant; 2) continuation of the work associated with the Inventor's Assistance Service; 3) pursuit of publications from two M.S. theses completed in 2014; 4) development of a Phase II USDA SBIR proposal for Hill Manufacturing; and 5) examination of the potential for edamame and guar production and processing in Oklahoma.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Four types of outputs and activities from this project include: 1) Evaluation of opportunities for existing manufacturers to improve their product mix and or processes used; 2) Assistance with writing grant proposals that will support efforts to develop new products and processes and provision of development and research support for projects that are funded; 3) Evaluation of and assistance provided to independent inventors; and 4) More traditional agricultural economics research related to the innovation infrastructure and effectiveness. Evaluation of new products and processes used by manufacturers is one of the key areas that the project supports. The project PI is Associate Director of the New Product Development Center (NPDC). A project funded by five federal agencies (NIST, DOE, DOL, EDA and SBA) was initiated in 2012 and has continued through 2014. The projects has had 67 projects with more than 40 companies in rural areas with less than 80 percent of US per capita income. Assistance with writing and providing resources to implement work related to proposals is a second mandate of the system. The submissions sometimes involve commercialization of OSU faculty inventions, are most frequently multidisciplinary, and involve companies committed to the commercialization effort. When funded, the proposals increase the capacity of Oklahoma manufacturers to create new products or processes. An Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology two-year project with a Tulsa chemical company funded for $300,000 was completed in 2013. The project is expected to result in commercialization of an OSU chemistry faculty member's invention and the result is a proprietary process. One USDA Phase 1 SBIR proposal for Hill Manufacturing was funded during the reporting period and work was initiated. Two additional proposals are under review. Seven other proposals were prepared and not funded. The third area of emphasis is research support for evaluation of inventions for independent inventors. For the July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2014, the Inventor's Assistance Service received 68 applications and a competitiveness report for each applicant was prepared and sent to the applicants. Nine prototypes were developed and 3 were tested. The fourth area is more traditional agricultural economics research. A study on the impact of university intellectual property policies and characteristics on patenting activity and licensing revenue from patents was completed. A two-stage recursive regression model, and the most recent data from 87 universities (including 44 land-grant universities) to examine the determinants of technology transfer. We concluded that the following factors enhance university technology disclosures: high quality faculty, technology transfer office staff size, and research expenditures. We found that licensing revenue sharing incentives to university scientists is inversely related to technology disclosures. This study found that technology disclosures greatly enhance technology transfer outputs. M.S. thesis research on livestock producers' willingness to adopt electronic monitoring systems was initiated. The evaluation included systems with rumen boluses and the ability to search and identify cattle using unmanned aerial vehicles. The initial results were used to prepare a Phase I USDA SBIR proposal.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Anderson, Justin Luke. University Technology Transfer Productivity. M.S. Thesis, Oklahoma State University, May 2014.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Evert, A., Blackwell, C., Tilley, D., Weckler, P., & Holcomb, R. (2013). Students' perceptions of communication and course motivation provided by faculty. Natural Sciences Education, v. 42.
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Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audience has not changed Changes/Problems: No changes or problems What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Dr. Robert Taylor, Director of the Inventors’ Assistance Service (IAS) met with inventors and supervised designs. Heather Lewis, Design Engineer, New Product Development Center, met with inventors and supervised interns. Jennifer Vinyard, Senior Design Engineer, New Product Development Center assisted with design evaluations. Cooperating faculty include Chris Richards, Animal Science, Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo, Animial Science, Jamey Jacob, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Allen Apblett, Chemistry, and Steve Griggs, Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises. More than 22 business and engineering student interns assisted with the development of reports, drawings, prototypes and design analyses. Partner Organizations The Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology provides funding for IAS activities. The Oklahoma Inventors’ Congress organized program content and assisted with conducting workshops for inventors. Federal Agencies that have provided support include NSF, NIST, DOE, DOL, SBA, and EDA. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Disseminated in various professional outlets and training-modules. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Outcomes/Impacts NPDC project impacts are measured by post-project surveys by Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Extension Agents and are audited by NIST. For our initial NIST contract for 10/1/2010 to 9/30/2013, the impacts are estimated at $3.3 million of capital investment, $6.9 million in unnecessary investments avoided, $34.5 million in sales increase, $31.1 million of sales retained, $9.2 million in cost savings, 117 jobs created and 90 jobs retained. We have 102 activities in our data base with 64 different companies. We have closed 67 projects with impact, 11 that had no reported impact and still have 24 open activities as of 2/10/14. Our second five agency contract had three projects with impact that have resulted in $1.3 million in capital investment, $9,538 in cost savings, $3.5 million change in sales, and $14,356 in cost savings. For the Inventors’ Assistance Service, we estimate cost avoidance impacts of $600,000 that is created if, based on our reports, inventors do not attempt to patent or market ideas for which there would be the potential for patent infringement. Companies that received additional assistance are reporting impacts of approximately $140,000 (some are in ranges and will depend on actual sales). Another 13 projects are at various stages in the development process.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Four types of outputs and activities from this project include: 1) Evaluation of opportunities for existing manufacturers to improve their product mix and or processes used; 2) Assistance with writing grant proposals that will support efforts to develop new products and processes and provision of development and research support for projects that are funded; 3) Evaluation of and assistance provided to independent inventors; and 4) More traditional agricultural economics research related to the innovation infrastructure and effectiveness. Evaluation of new products and processes used by manufacturers is one of the key areas that the project supports. The project PI is Associate Director of the New Product Development Center (NPDC). We recently completed a NIST contract that ran from 10/1/2010 to 9/30/2013. During that time period we had 102 innovation activities with 64 different companies. Project impacts are measured by post-project surveys by Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Extension Agents and are audited by NIST. A second project funded by five federal agencies (NIST, DOE, DOL, EDA and SBA) was initiated in 2012 and has engaged 14 companies in innovation projects in rural areas with less than 80 percent of US per capita income. Assistance with writing and providing resources to implement work related to proposals is a second mandate of the system. The submissions sometimes involve commercialization of OSU faculty inventions, are most frequently multidisciplinary, and involve companies committed to the commercialization effort. When funded, the proposals increase the capacity of Oklahoma manufacturers to create new products or processes. An Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology two-year project with a Tulsa chemical company was written and funded for $300,000. The project is expected to result in commercialization of an OSU chemistry faculty member’s invention. The PI was involved in assisting three Oklahoma manufacturers with three USDA SBIR proposals which were submitted in September. One of the proposals was revised and submitted to the NSF-SBIR program as well. Assistance was also provided for a National Science Foundation, Partnership for Innovation, Building Innovation Capacity project with an aerospace engineer as PI and partnerships with four companies. One of the graduate students working on this project is doing market research for the technology being developed. The third area of emphasis is research support for evaluation of inventions for independent inventors. For the July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013, the Inventor’s Assistance Service received 63 applications for assistance and referred 13 for further development. A report for each applicant was prepared and sent to the applicants. The fourth area is research on the impact of university intellectual property policies and characteristics on patenting activity and licensing revenue from patents. University technology policies have been reviewed and data from the Association of University Technology Management has been acquired. Particular emphasis will be placed on comparing land-grant universities to their non-land-grant counterparts.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Evert, A., Blackwell, C., Tilley, D., Weckler, P. & Holcomb, R. (Accepted). Students' Perceptions of communications and course motivation provided by faculty. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education.
Tilley, D., Reinman, S. C. Neill, K. Buerger, J. Stewart, and L. Allmon. 2013 Ideas vs. Inventions: An Introduction to Intellectual Property Protection . Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules.
Buerger, K., J. Stewart, C. Neill, D. Tilley, S. Reinman, and L. Allmon. 2013. Questions to ask before applying to the IAS . Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules.
Stewart, J., K. Buerger, C. Neill, D. Tilley and L. Allmon. 2013. How to Apply to the Inventors Assistance Service . Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules.
Tilley, D., S. Reinman, K. Buerger, J. Stewart and L. Allmon. 2013. Introduction to Patents and the Patent Process. Available at https://ias.okstate.edu/training-modules.
Taylor, Robert and Daniel S. Tilley (2013). Manufacturing Improvement Program for the Oil and Gas Industry Supply Chain and Marketing Channel. Poster presented at Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge Collaboration Meeting, St. Louis, Mo. Jan. 28-29, 2013.
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Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Reports evaluating inventions were prepared for 51 independent inventors. These reports assess the competitive and intellectual environment for proposed inventions. One prototype of a faculty invention was created and another invention for an agricultural product manufacturer was completed as part of a Phase II USDA SBIR project. In addition, five lessons on the patent and invention process have been created and are in review for posting on the OSU Inventors' Assistance Service web site. A workshop for the Oklahoma Inventors' Congress was held in August 2012. In addition, support was provided for a business development program for inventors interested in starting their own companies. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Robert Taylor, Director of the Inventors' Assistance Service (IAS) met with inventors and supervised designs. Heather Lewis, Design Engineer, New Product Development Center, met with inventors and supervised interns. Jennifer Vinyard, Senior Design Engineer, New Product Development Center assisted with design evaluations. More than 12 business and engineering student interns assisted with the development of reports, drawings, prototypes and design analyses. The Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology provides funding for IAS activities. The Oklahoma Inventors' Congress organized program content and assisted with conducting workshops for inventors. TARGET AUDIENCES: Unchanged PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: None
Impacts
Requests for inventors' assistance were received from 51 applicants and 15 of those proceeded to the business plan, engineering design, prototyping, or development assistance stages. The impacts of the services offered in 2011-2012 are estimated to be over $648,000 with most of the impact coming from cost savings because our reports identify prior art that is likely to make patenting or product development difficult. Three products are presently on the market with sales being generated at five others are in various stages of commercialization.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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