Valuing Early and Global Medical Technology within a University
Tuesday, April 10, 4:00-5:30, A.I. Johnson Great Hall, McNamara Alumni Center

Organizer: Steve Parente, PhD, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

"Market Scanning Technology Opportunities"
Michael D. Finch, PhD, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

"Assessing a New Technology"
Randall Nelson, President, Evergreen Medical Technology, LLC.

"Franchising University-based Medical Technology Valuation"
Steve Parente, PhD, Medical Industry Leadership Institute (MILI), University of Minnesota

Session Abstract:

Assessing a technology to determine its readiness for commercialization is a problem that all new technologies face. Medical technology has more hurdles than other technologies to prove its readiness. Is it marketable? Can it be protected? How long will it take to develop and at what cost? Whether the technology is for a device, a pharmaceutical, or software application, the assessment process is similar and will be described and argued to help you determine how to assess your new invention based on the process developed in the Medical Industry Leadership Institute (MILI) program at the Carlson School of Management. This session will provide a set of proven templates to assess early stage technologies and determine their best probability of success. Our first presentation will focus on the Market Scanning process as a way to guide and focus the idea generation motivating the development of a technology. The second presentation will focus on the assessment process: from finding ideas to producing a valuation of the technology. The final presentation describes the pathways for franchising and transplanting our early stage technology assessment process to other Universities using the prototype partnering agreements under way with MILI.

Session Organizer Bio:

Steve Parente, PhD, Medical Industry Leadership Institute (MILI), University of Minnesota
Professor Parente is the Minnesota Insurance Industry Chair in Carlson School of Management and the Director of the Medical Industry Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota. As a Finance Professor he specializes in health economics. He is the Director of the Medical Valuation Laboratory, a nine college interdisciplinary effort to accelerate medical innovation. He has a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

Speaker Bios:

Michael D. Finch, PhD, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
Michael D. Finch is a sociologist and health services researcher. He holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Finch is a regular contributor to journals in economics and health services research. His research has received four “best paper” awards from the Association for Health Services Research and the National Institute of Health Care Management. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice and several state regulatory Agencies. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and the School of Public Health

Randall Nelson, President, Evergreen Medical Technology, LLC.
Randy Nelson is the president of Evergreen Medical Technologies, LLC. H has been responsible for the development of Class II and III medical devices in startups and established companies for over 25 years. In addition to his experience with medical device product development, Randy has experience in early company formation and evaluation of research concepts. In startups and larger companies, he has taken projects through their complete product lifecycle from concept stage through product development, manufacturing, and technical support of the launched product. Nelson is an adjunct instructor at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Minnesota and an economics degree from Willamette University.

Presentation Abstracts:

"Market Scanning Technology Opportunities"
The Market Scanning process guides and focuses the idea generation motivating the development of a technology. Use of existing data and health market domain expertise can limit the scope of innovation to high value new technology development.

"Assessing a New Technology"
This presentation will focus on the assessment process: from finding ideas to producing a valuation of the technology. We provide illustration from proven cases based on over 60 assessments completed at the University of Minnesota's Medical Valuation Laboratory.

"Franchising University-based Medical Technology Valuation"
This presentation will focus on how the University of Minnesota's Medical Industry Valuation Laboratory is creating partnerships with companies, inventors, and academic institutions around the globe.  Specialize emphasis will focus on the Laboratory's new relationship with the University of Shanghai Science and Technology program in medical devices as an illustration.  The Laboratory’s recent award as best new MBA/MD combined program initiative and it can be exported to other Universities will also be discussed.