5.1   Introduction

Commercializing nanotechnology from laboratory to market involves innovation, adoption, and sometime integration in an existing business process. According to Steve Jobs “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have… It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” Dale Carnegie’s guide to innovation includes finding ideas, finding solutions, finding acceptance, implementing, following up, and evaluation.

Commercializing involves value transformation to commercial ventures creating end-to-end solutions. Innovation, adoption, and integration require certain intermediate steps including assessing technology readiness, prototyping and testing, risk assessment and mitigation, sustainability planning, manufacturing, financing, marketing, and customer acceptance.

The nanotechnology development, adoption, and insertion in a business process or venture need to go through a stepwise roadmap including the following:

1. Identifying and/or defining the issue or problem

2. Developing or creating a solution

3. Describing competitive advantages of the proposed solution

4. Selecting a technology or technologies for the proposed solution

5. Assessing its current technology readiness level

6. Developing commercialization plan

7. Arranging appropriate financing

8. Building prototypes for testing

9. Manufacturing or building hardware or system

10. Testing the market and collecting customer feedback

The critical factors for technology commercialization roadmap are prototyping, testing, and identifying the challenges in technology insertion in an existing venture. On the other hand, creating values for a complete venture depends on financing, marketing, securing resources, and development of management capability.

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology, and its commercialization along with other appropriate emerging technologies can sometimes bring mutual benefits and be advantageous. When considering integration or insertion of nanotechnology into an existing venture, considerations must be focused on additional benefits that can be had from emerging technologies such as digitization, machine learning, digital twins, smart sensors, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, industrial Internet-of-things, and cybersecurity.

Also, for nanotechnology product insertion in an existing manufacturing plant, considerations must be given on industry priorities. These priorities include improving reliability, operability, competitiveness, and profitability. The industries also look into eliminating interruption and wastes. Where applicable, the manufacturing plant should select agile methodologies and techniques.

While designing a product, the industry needs to maximize its benefits from digitizing real-time data and optimizing for sustainability. The industry target should be attaining top operational performance and maintaining market leadership. When considering technology platform, industries would select smart manufacturing technologies. They also should prefer to be with a platform that allows them making continuous improvement of their operation, where possible.

5.2   Business Plan

Considerable numbers of books have been published on developing business plans. These books describe on how to develop a complete business plan for a venture. A business plan can involve details and require considerable time and financial resources to prepare. At the early stage of commercialization of nanotechnology venture, it is very important to start with a brief, but precise “summary” of ideas for guidance, reference, and sharing with others. Such summary business plan should include at least problem identification and definition, solution (product/services) proposed, target market(s) with customers, sales/marketing strategy, business model, identified competitions, competitive advantages, financial projection, resources (technical, management, marketing, financial, regulatory), and target schedule. It will be good to have a paragraph summarizing the business plan. The summary business plan needs to include a section on how you plan to raise capital for supporting the initial years of your commercializing venture.

The planning section would tell us what needs to be done and when and what benefits it brings for satisfying overall objectives. The planning document is sometimes called project execution plan (PEP). This planning document normally consists of the following steps:

1. Definition of the tasks to be performed

2. Statements on the objectives of the venture

3. Identification of potential problems

4. Lists of assumptions

5. Defining the objectives

6. Statements on strategies

7. Identifying sequence of the tasks

8. Establishing required resources

9. Reviewing and finalizing the plan

10. Establishing probability of success

11. Finalizing the plan, after detail review

12. Reviewing the plan often and improving, as background data do change

It is prudent to prepare an early work schedule. The schedules establish the activities to be performed in sequence. The scoping and tasking prioritization include the following:

1. Task identification

2. Sequencing

3. Logical sequence of tasks

4. Allocation of resources

5. Duration of each task

6. Identification of critical tasks/critical path

7. Levelling of resources

8. Preparation of bar charts

It will be a prudent approach to review the plan at least every 6 months and adjust the plan where appropriate. In reality, situations that influence and control commercial ventures do change frequently.

5.3   Sustainability Plan

The success of a commercializing venture based on an emerging technology is to be monitored, adjusted, secured, and assured often. Successful nanotechnology commercialization venture must be sustainable. Critical components in commercialization roadmap include as a minimum technology development, prototype design and testing, financing, manufacturing, regulatory compliance, and customer acceptance. The management team must have adequate knowledge and experience to adjust the action plan as the situation changes. All of these issues must be a part of sustainability plan.

The sustainability plan should address at least the following issues:

1. Technology development

2. Regulatory compliance

3. Testing and manufacturing resources

4. Financing (as/when needed)

5. Market intelligence

6. Management continuity

7. Third-party resources for hire

8. Economic conditions

The sustainability plan could include a “commercializing project life cycle roadmap” identifying the pathways to follow for commercializing the nanotechnology. The life cycle roadmap should include the following:

1. Technology/business strategy

2. Feasibility requirements

3. Revenue optimization criteria

4. External resources for validation

5. Permitting guidelines

6. Financing requirements and appropriate sources

7. Constructability analysis

8. Product launching techniques

9. Customer feedback

5.4   Regulatory Compliance Plan

Currently, there are few industry standards and guidelines available for nanotechnology development and commercialization. These include the following:

1. ISO TC 229 Nanotechnologies

2. ANSI-NSP (Nanotechnology Standards Database)

3. ASTM E56 Committee for Standards

4. IEC TC 113 (Nanotechnology Standardization for Electrical & Electronic Products & Systems)

5. TAPPI Nanotechnology

6. BAM NanoScale Reference Materials Database

5.5   Risk Management Plan

Commercializing emerging technologies encounter considerable risks. These risks are to be recognized diligently, and their effectiveness is to be identified, studied, and classified (low, medium, and high impacts). Once identified, analyzed, and classified, efforts are to be made to mitigate the risks. Mitigation of risks involves aversion, minimization, and developments of alternatives. Risk analysis and mitigating processes are well recognized, practiced, and published. The most challenges are the risks that are yet to be identified. Efforts should be made in reviewing the risks frequently, and steps should be taken to avert or minimize risks, where possible.

Process risk management (PRM) guidelines are a part of industry’s ongoing commitment primarily in the areas of environment, health, and safety (EHS). Most of the countries in the world have EHS regulations and guidelines applicable for their industries. Investors in emerging technology ventures are careful and sometimes have their own experts in performing their own analysis.

The industry guidelines provide the basis for consistent management of manufacturing facility’s operational hazards and risks to the plant personnel. Sometimes, each manufacturing company develops its own guidelines and practices. These guidelines are practiced in all of the facilities for consistency. The manufacturing industry adjusts its guidelines frequently after appropriate reviews of its practices. The program review and implementation schedule is set by the industry.

The risk management system (RMS) can be different for each manufacturing facility based on operational processes used in each. In the United States, manufacturing facilities are required to have injury and illness prevention plan (IIPP). Each facility is required to provide RMS and IIPP training to the employees. Usually, the manufacturing industries use outside resources for risk management and preparation of RMS and IIPP.

5.6   Financing Plan

During the early stage of technology development and testing, the required funds come from the owner. Also, owner’s family and friends are the sources of initial financial support. Once the technology has been tested and reports are considered bankable, then borrowing of funds can have little flexibility. Equity crowdfunding is an option, an online offering of new venture’s securities to a group of individuals for investment. This option is guided by country’s regulations on financial and securities. The other sources of financing are the conventional private funding individuals. These individuals will ask for significant portion of the assets or shares. Once the prototyping and market testing are done, then the corporate or institutional investors would be interested.

To attract investors, it is very important to prepare a believable sales/revenue forecast. Quite often, the owner of the commercializing venture is not equipped to develop the successful financial plan. It may be prudent to retain a financial advisor to work with the owner. The financial advisors are knowledgeable about investor’s preferences in all segments of private and public capital markets.

The feasibility of financing will be based on answering certain questions. These are as follows:

1. What are each shareholder’s reasons for participating in raising capital?

2. What share of ownership does each existing shareholders wish to retain?

3. What level of risk each existing shareholder will accept?

4. Are the cash flow forecasted is sufficient to justify each shareholder’s investment?

5. Will the anticipated cash flow be sufficient to attract capital from outside?

The tax structure(s) in the appropriate country will have significant impact on attractiveness for the investment.

5.7   Product Launching Plan

The product launching plan (PLP) is the last and final plan for the commercialization venture. If the PLP is not developed properly, the commercialization venture most likely will not be successful, even after successful implementation of all other plans. The PLP should cover at least the following steps:

1. Objective: The purpose of the PLP phase is to introduce the manufactured product to the potential customers and collect their feedback on presentability, packaging, pricing, usability, satisfaction, desirability as repeat buyer, and suggestions for improvement, if any.

2. Planning: Much consideration, time, and resources are to be devoted for planning the PLP.

3. Schedule (phasing): The PLP efforts should be scheduled and if necessary should be phased for convenience.

4. Control criteria: Identify the specific data that must be collected or gathered for control. Characteristics of control issues must be defined and planned from the beginning.

5. Staffing: Identify the key staff, and their activities must be identified and allocated.

6. Documentation: Develop the forms including data collection formats.

7. Customer feedback: The customer feedback should be recorded in predesigned forms.

8. Budget: Allocation of financial resources should be set before the PLP phase.

9. Reporting: Identify the key officials that should review the data collected and provide their comments for next action(s).

10. Authority: It is very important to identify the officials who have the authority to review and approve the PLP. Also, officials are to be designated for authorizing any changes.