So What? Who Cares? Why You?

It Takes a Village to Raise an Idea

I was recently asked to deliver a keynote for a conference devoted to economic development professionals.  I chose to focus on the notion of building entrepreneurial communities - as you can see, I borrowed the village theme of raising children and applied to it to developing ideas.

My talk centered on building entrepreneurial communities and the power behind organizing your community as an ecosystem.  As most of you know, I work best with visual frameworks and so I created the visual model below to steer the conversation.

I've been developing my thinking around the pedals to push to build vibrant commercialization communities.  If you have thoughts and suggestions on this topic that you'd like to contribute,  or even inputs to improve the framework below, please comment on this post. I'd love to engage my own ecosystem in the next version of this model.

So what? who cares? why you? Expands Reach Through Global Partners

Idaho TechConnect Partners with wendykennedy.com to bring Commercialization Success Tools to Idaho

More Idaho ideas will come to life, thanks to the partnership between Idaho TechConnect and wendykennedy.com inc. Through the partnership, TechConnect will represent Kennedy’s ‘So what? who cares? why you?®’ methodology in Idaho and the two firms will collaborate to help researchers, scientists and inventors recognize the commercial opportunity and economic potential in their work.

“Our mission is to turn Idaho ideas into Idaho businesses,” said Rick Ritter, CEO of Idaho TechConnect, “the national lab and the universities bring in a fair share of research and development dollars. TechConnect wants to increase the return on that investment. This partnership gives us a proven methodology for commercialization that we can bring to our clients in a variety of formats. We’re excited to be partnering with Wendy to help accelerate commercialization in Idaho".

Developed over the past 20 years, based on her experience as an educator and entrepreneur, Wendy’s methodology presents commercialization success tools in a straightforward and easy to understand manner. “The So what? who cares? why you?® methodology was developed to help researchers and scientists translate their ideas into a language business people speak. It’s not just about the idea or the science,” says Wendy Kennedy, “it’s about unlocking the commercial opportunity the science or idea represents”.

Up first for an interactive, one-day workshop is the Idaho National Lab. Two training days are scheduled in early March. On March 4^th, scientists and researchers will have the opportunity to roll-up their sleeves and dive into Wendy’s methodology, guided by Wendy herself. On March 5^th, the training will be offered to the tech transfer and commercialization managers, with a focus on using So what? who cares why you?® to help the researchers achieve success. Additional programs are also planned for Boise State University, Idaho

State University and University of Idaho later this spring. The program will also be rolled out to interested innovation and technology entrepreneurs.

About Idaho TechConnect
Idaho TechConnect is the state’s first and only private-public non-profit organization focused solely on technology – its development, transfer and commercialization – all of which impact the state’s economy. Formalized in April 2006 as a statewide entity, Idaho TechConnect, bridges the gap between ideas, research and patents and the enabling people, money and facilities. Seven regional offices assist  Idaho entrepreneurs and businesses in turning ideas into products, establishing and growing R&D programs, seeking funding and competing in the global marketplace. More information is available at www.idahotechconnect.com

From Lab to Life - Ready? Set? Go?

If you are an inventor, entrepreneur or someone who evaluates the market readiness of early stage ideas, be sure to hop over to my web site and download my Commercialization Readiness Checklist.  It's a one-page checklist of the factors that make an idea ready for commercialization.  We all know that having a great technical solution only gets you to the starting gate.  Hopefully this ten-question checklist will be a friendly reminder of the business value drivers as you pursue your dream.

Pin it to your office wall and stay the course.

Enjoy your journey!

Wendy
Entrepreneurial Professor
www.wendykennedy.com