As a self-proclaimed “technology voyeur,” Foresight Science & Technology President Phyllis Speser is excited about what the commercialization firm will soon be looking at next.
Foresight, a Providence-based company specializing in technology commercialization, announced last month that it has begun work on 150 technologies being funded under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research Program.
NIH uses the program to fund cutting-edge, high-risk work at small companies.
With commercialization support clients that include the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency, Speser said Foresight has handled contracts of similar sizes before. But Speser sees this particular task as a positive indicator of the company’s progress.
After running a pilot program on 100 technologies funded under the program last year, this contract shows that the company is a “success story” in the eyes of NIH officials, Speser said.
The deal also signifies Foresight’s transition into the biotechnology and biomedical fields, areas that were virtually absent from the company’s work three years ago.
“For us, it solidifies our move into the biotech sector,” Speser said.
Under last year’s NIH pilot program, Foresight worked to commercialize products that included bioinformatics tools, Web-based systems designed to empower patients, systems to standardize alternative medicines and nerve cuffs for prosthetic limbs.
With 25 years of experience in the field, Speser said Foresight successfully commercializes technology by understanding how the end-user will utilize the product.
“If it doesn’t have value for the person, who cares?” Speser said.
The industry of technology commercialization is voyeuristic, Speser jokes, adding that the company gets to look at the work of some of the world’s greatest minds and help make their developments available to mass markets.
“(The inventors) think we have the hard job,” Speser said. “They made the invention. For us, it’s a kick.”
According to a statement provided by Foresight, the firm supports more than 800 technologies each year for companies, universities, government agencies and nonprofit institutions. Working in all sectors of the economy, Foresight has franchises in Canada and Chile and a partnership with the European Union.
Founded in 1980, Foresight originally specialized in science and technology government representation. The company has undergone several changes, according to background information on its Web site, and began providing commercial services in 1999.
Foresight currently has 40 employees. Speser said the company adds about four employees every quarter.
