There is enormous variety in the attempts to manage these opportunities from both a technology and a business perspective. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. The prospects of success are better with an integrated approach, with success more probable when an integrated team addresses development issues.

It is also crucial to use management processes that are appropriate for the technology. Processes developed for mature products are rarely effective for emerging and new technologies. Despite the definition and control the scientific method brings, innovation remains a creative process. Outside of independent government-funded research centers and fewer still commercial centers, research centers strive to make their technology relevant to present and future problems.

On the one hand, few research and development organizations can afford to explore science and technology without an eye to its commercial potential. The potentially huge return on investment creates the business motivation to provide the resources for the exploration. The “best” of these ideas are those that are thought to have the best commercial potential. In theory, the best ideas get the necessary resources. On the other hand, not many businesses can afford the sustained investment required to examine the science and explore the technology that results in a successful product and the protective set of enabling intellectual property.

Accordingly, the business needs and the state of the technology have an entwined relationship.

In the technology-based community, conversation often centers on the technology, its promises, and its challenges. We often include the myriad possible applications as a validation of the effort. More often than not, the applications and eventual product are our dreams. We quietly acknowledge that these pursuits require different skills. The possibilities are, however, the stuff that fuels our imagination and motivates our investigations of science and new technology.

In parallel, the business community hopes to have the technology that will give it a sustainable, ethical advantage for its product in the marketplace. As business executives look toward the research and development community, while managing the profit and loss expectations of investors and owners, it is a challenge for them to nurture the technology, apply it, develop a product, and market it. Anyone that has managed or led technology from its R&D origins to a fully developed product knows that the process has a staggering amount and variety of variables.

The process can be reduced to two major stages: research and development and commercial enterprise.

The research and development stage has two major subcategories: science and technology. Science is the way we learn about the physical universe by applying the principles of the scientific method: observation, hypothesis, and testing. Technology is the application of the science to develop tools, techniques, materials, and systems.

The commercial enterprise stage has three major subcategories: application, product, and market. In the application phase, the technology is brought to bear to solve a customer problem. Product is the commodity that is for sale, and marketing identifies customers for those commodities.

The two major areas—research and development and commercial enterprise—are cultures apart. They are separated by a gulf.

The gulf is the boundary for the two points of view: technology and business. The technical mind is trained to believe and follow the scientific method, and scientific truths and laws govern the process. The business mind is not very different, but there are vast market forces that cannot be controlled or isolated and can be serendipitous. It is those forces that determine the market value of an opportunity.

More often than not, the research and commercial enterprises exist as separate organizations. Only a few of the largest companies have resident R&D staff. Small, medium, and even some large companies often rely on outside sources for technology. Whether resident or not, they are separated by the gulf of cultural differences. Language barriers, differing goals, and differing metrics for success define the gulf. The challenges of the commercial enterprise deserve as much consideration as those of the research enterprise. Therefore, we are addressing the approach to the gulf from the technology side.

Bridging the gulf is the challenge of developing technology into real products. In other words, the opportunity cannot be only about the technology, nor can it be only about the business. The technology must serve the business, and the business must respect and nurture the technology. Commercial enterprises are concerned about the role technology plays in their competitive position. A general assumption is that a strong intellectual property position is a tool to protect profit margin. Profit margin is only one of the important business metrics of a flourishing commercial enterprise.

Both technology and business enterprises must stretch across their boundaries and reach for inspiration and guidance.

The greatest discovery of them all may be the process that guides us through the evolution of science to product, especially one that is capable of taking advantage of a great business opportunity. Our hopes in this regard form on two points of view: the science and the business.

From the technology point of view there is a tendency to hope that after the application of the technology to an existing problem, a business will pull the technology forward through the remaining commercialization steps. From the business point of view there is a hope that the technology will present itself as a product and will need only to be marketed and sold. Neither eventuality is likely.

The chances of success are increased when you have an appreciation of the difference and culture of each of the environments. The technology needs to be mentored by an understanding of the anticipated needs of the business, and the business must be vigilant of opportunities presented by emerging technology.

The ultimate process is more of an approach. The approach is both flexible and adaptive. The effort involves multidisciplinary teams of creative, success-driven professionals who have entrepreneurial talent. It’s obvious when one is in the presence of a process that is working to take the technology out of the lab environment and into the marketplace. It’s evident in the team members’ relationships among themselves and their relationship with organizational management. The evidence is a mutual respect and appreciation for each of the necessary contributions to the opportunity.

The process is the development of a culture of innovation, irrespective of whether the parent organization is a commercial or a research enterprise.

The challenge in either situation centers on a single core concept: The opportunity must be managed by using processes that are appropriate for the maturity level of the technology. For emerging technology there must be room for error, failure, reevaluation, rehabilitation, and even abandonment. However, being afforded the opportunity to take the challenge should be seen as a high compliment.

The professionals involved and leading these efforts must exhibit a number of special attributes. Look for the presence of most of the following eight points in every member involved in the effort to bring the technology forward:

The culture of opportunity balances soft and hard points. The culture addresses the needs and characteristics of the people, the technology, and the business. The balancing starts at the gulf where research and commercial enterprises meet.