EMTM Profiles by Industry:
Technology Commercialization

Brilliant technology doesn’t always translate into commercial success. In fact, the best technology doesn’t always win, or even make it to the market. The ability to take an innovative technology, develop a viable business model and product, and bring it to market requires a complex set of skills that EMTM is well positioned to develop.

With EMTM’s curriculum structure and wide range of electives, you can tailor your program experience to support an interest in technology commercialization.

• EMTM courses such as Decision Modeling, R&D Management, Introduction to New Venture Initiation, Technology Entrepreneurship, and Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship offer knowledge and frameworks that can be applied to technologies of all types and organizations of all sizes.
• Technology electives, including Advanced Materials, Nanotechnology, Photonics, Drug Discovery, and Introduction to Biotechnology and Bionanotechnology, expose students to Penn Engineering’s deep expertise in diverse technologies and provide the opportunity to explore the frontiers of a wide range of emerging technologies.
• Additional management electives such as Real Options Analysis, Models and Tools for Marketing Tactics & Strategy, and Supply Chain Management draw on the strength of the Wharton faculty and give students the tools needed to launch successful technology ventures.

Students and alumni involved in technology commercialization report a strong correlation between EMTM and their increased confidence, skill and success, whether they are interested in commercializing a product of their own research, advising others, or working for a Fortune 500 firm.

Garth Jenkins MS, MBA, EMTM’09, is a Founder and Vice President, Business Development at Ventis Technology Partners, a Boston-based business development firm that helps companies license and commercialize new technologies. Garth was just getting Ventis off the ground as he entered the EMTM program. “What I’ve noticed from working on different sides of this business is that there’s a lot of great technology out there, but many excellent tech firms just can’t get over the hump and pull it all together with funding and business strategy,” he says. “For my own purposes, I wanted to develop both a practical and theoretical perspective to help me offer these services to others.”

Garth has watched his company grow in tandem with his mastery of technology management, and he credits EMTM for helping him bridge the gap. He has even recruited some fellow students to work with Ventis on future projects. “From the program’s curriculum I now have a multitude of tools and frameworks to apply to my work, and that has become an infinite source of differentiation for my business. EMTM has allowed us to expand Ventis’ business development capability and become more sustainable in the long run.”

Scott Ackerson, EMTM’07, Vice President, Dimensional Photon-X, Inc., began his career in the military with a five-year tour of duty in the U.S. submarine force. After a brief period working in nuclear energy, he left a corporate job to form a business in the 3D imaging space called SpatialMetriX Corporation, the first of several similarly focused ventures that Scott has built and sold over the past two decades.

Scott enrolled in EMTM to take what he refers to as a “working sabbatical” to polish business skills and expand his knowledge of emerging technologies that might impact the 3D industry over the next five years. “I wanted to find a great business opportunity driven by strong customer demand and enabled by an advanced 3D imaging technology. I believe that I found such an opportunity while studying in the EMTM program.” In his current role, Scott is working with the founder/inventor of Photon-X “to launch the world’s first family of 3D cameras.”

“One’s ability to make decisions confidently and to act quickly is enhanced when you can reference both work experience and an academic framework. The combination helps avoid ‘below-the-waterline’ mistakes that can sink the ship,” he says. One advantage Scott sites about EMTM was the ability to tailor coursework — through both technology and management electives — to build on his own experience and keep the program relevant to his interests.

“An entrepreneur is someone building a bridge while simultaneously running across it”, says Scott. “EMTM helps entrepreneurs run across their bridge at full speed — I’m a big advocate of the program.”

Coming from the science side, Serge-Alain Wandji, MS, PhD, EMTM’01, was a post-doctoral research scientist in endocrinology at Cornell University, and later at Hershey Medical Center, when he developed a method for freezing female eggs. He decided to use this technology to start an egg bank, but the discovery prompted a realization: In order to take new technologies such as this one to the marketplace, he would need more than his advanced degrees in physiology and neurophysiology.

Now Intellectual Asset Manager at Cargill, Serge cites EMTM’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship electives as being highly influential on his work and his decision to go into technology commercialization, teaching him “how to leverage technology, monetize an invention and build it into a startup venture.”

Related Links
> Making Their Mark: EMTM Grads Harness Emerging Tech
> Nanotechnology: Small Science, Big Business

If you are interested in EMTM and would like to speak with a graduate or current student in this career field, please contact us.