Foresight Web service targets small business

A Providence consulting outfit is developing ways to offer entrepreneurs and small businesses the same expertise they have provided universities, government agencies and big corporations for years, with a Web site that lets clients do some of the research they need on their own.
The service helps clients turn technology into commercial products, something Foresight Science & Technology has been doing for 30 years. The company’s client list has always included large institutions, like Boston University, the U.S. Navy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. But Foresight’s new Web-based service makes their assistance affordable to all.
The core of the service is a subscription Web site that includes a searchable database of thousands of reports the company has produced through the years, as well as tutorials that can be used to understand the process of technology commercialization. That’s supplemented with discussions with Foresight’s experts and reports produced specifically for the client.
Foresight calls the service T2+2 a trademarked name that stands for “Technology Transfer, Tools, and Training.” It’s been up and running for a year, and some 40 clients now subscribe.
“The key is data acquisition,” said Matt Wool, Foresight’s vice president for software and Internet products. “There are very few, if any, research organizations that have the amount of aggregated data we have, and we’re constantly adding to that. We do 500 to 800 technology assessments every year, and those all go into the system. Our clients are saving time and money, because we’re offering so much data in one place.”
Clients seem to agree.
“It’s very cost effective,” said Ashok Choudhury, senior technology commercialization associate at Vanderbilt University’s Office of Technology Transfer and Enterprise Development. “We’re very pleased with their service. I’ve used it two ways – self driven, and to provide the people at Foresight with information on a technology, so that they can do an analysis based on intellectual property, market and competitive technology. The annual subscription paid for itself in a recent license negotiation by finding hard-to-get royalty information for a niche technology.”
The company’s larger clients typically sit down and negotiate a contract that spells out the services they will need. But Foresight also provides a more limited and far less expensive service with the goal of attracting startups and small companies.
The “entrepreneurial level,” as the company calls the service, costs $899, and allows six-month access to the T2+2 Web site. In addition, Foresight produces a market analysis report specifically for the client and provides one hour of face-to-face consultation with one of their experts.
On the Web site, those clients will also find guides to writing proposals for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s research grants program, lessons on business plan preparation, and directories to venture capital and angel investors.
“We work all over the country and around the world, but we’re trying to make ourselves as visible as possible with local entrepreneurs,” says Wool. “We’ve designed tools specifically for each level of the service, but the core is the same.”
The Web site also includes a directory of companies and institutions that Foresight calls “pipeline partners.” That’s a network of companies “who tell us what sort of technology they’re looking for,” Wool said. “They give us a senior person as a contact, and information as to how they like to handle business deals. This way, a client will know exactly who to call and exactly what they want. It makes the process much more efficient.” Foresight also guarantees that none of the reports found on the database contains trade secrets of past clients. Before a report is posted online, all proprietary data is erased, as well as the client’s name and anything that might indicate who commissioned it.
Foresight is now actively promoting the service. And the company is working with government agencies and institutions that run business plan competitions.
The success to date has kept Foresight growing throughout the recession. Over the past year they have hired a commercialization analyst and two new executives, one with a background in product development, and the other with entrepreneurial experience. The company now has 20 employees working at the Angell Street headquarters and 30 contractors.
Recently the company began working with the Department of Energy to set up a Web site for supply chain formation in the automotive-battery industry, part of a federal initiative to build a domestic-battery industry. And the Navy recently hired them to run a training program on technology transfer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport.
“Our two biggest areas right now are energy and life sciences,” Wool said. “We’re doing a lot of work in those areas because that’s what the market is demanding right now, but we also work on projects in manufacturing, defense and a lot of other areas.” •