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Kristen Speakman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Spin-offs from research centers at a research university☆
Journal of Business Venturing, 2000Co-Authors: Morten Steffensen, Everett M Rogers, Kristen SpeakmanAbstract:Abstract Spin-offs are a means of technology transfer from a parent organization that represent a mechanism for creating jobs and new wealth. We investigated 6 of the 19 Spin-offs from the 55 research centers at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1997. The Albuquerque area in Northern New Mexico is rich in technology, thanks to the presence of three large Federal R&D laboratories and the University of New Mexico. University administrators and community leaders envision a future technopolis (technology city), but achieving this goal will be difficult, given the lack of needed infrastructure, entrepreneurship, and venture capital in the Albuquerque region. Nevertheless, in the early 1990s the amount of research funding at UNM increased at a faster rate than at other U.S. research universities (total research funding rose to $197 million in 1996). Most of this increase (about 85%) took place through the efforts of UNM's 55 research centers, which are multidisciplinary units supported mainly by funding from federal and state government agencies, private companies, and foundations. The research centers transfer technological innovations across the university's boundary via various mechanisms, including Spin-offs. A Spin-off is a new Company that is formed (1) by individuals who were former employees of the parent organization (a UNM research center in the present case), and (2) a core technology that is transferred from the parent organization. A previous study by the present authors identified 71 Spin-offs from the three federal R&D laboratories in New Mexico. The fact that high-technology Spin-offs are occurring in New Mexico, and at an increasing rate, suggests that a technopolis may be getting underway. In recent years the University of New Mexico and the federal R&D laboratories have established organizational and procedural mechanisms intended to encourage Spin-offs and other types of technology transfer such as patenting and technology licensing. An important factor in the success of a Spin-off Company is the degree of support that it receives from its parent organization. The six UNM Spin-offs of study here experienced few conflicts with their parent, in each case a university-based research center. However, lengthy negotiations with university officials over intellectual property rights to a Spin-off's core technology were often involved. The director of a Spin-off's parent research center usually played a key role in the Spin-off process. Often the university research center continued to provide laboratory facilities and access to research equipment to the Spin-off. Generally, both the Spin-off and the parent organization perceived of the Spin-off process as a win-win situation (which might not be the case when the parent is a private Company and the Spin-off becomes a competitor). In the present investigation we identify two types of Spin-offs: (1) planned , when the new venture results from an organized effort by the parent organization, and (2) spontaneously occurring , when the new Company is established by an entrepreneur who identifies a market opportunity and who founds the Spin-off with little encouragement (and perhaps with discouragement) from the parent organization. Both types of Spin-offs were represented in the present study. UNM professors, directors of the parent research centers, and others played important roles in instigating three of the six Spin-offs, while the other three were launched mainly by entrepreneurs. Spin-offs represent an important mechanism for technology transfer, as a Spin-off is typically founded around a core technological innovation that was initially developed at the parent organization. One reason that a research university is a vital ingredient in a technopolis is because of the considerable role that university-based research centers play in spinning-off new ventures. Stanford University in Silicon Valley, MIT on Route 128, and the University of Texas in Austin are all examples of this important relationship. The University of New Mexico is a smaller research university than Stanford, MIT, or Texas, but it is beginning to play a similar role in the Spin-off process. If indeed a technopolis eventually develops in Albuquerque, perhaps in 10 or 20 years, lessons may be learned about the roles of a research university and its research centers (and federal R&D laboratories), in contributing to regional economic development.
Colombini A - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A web-based decision support system for the management of integrated vineyards
place:Riva del Garda, 2013Co-Authors: Caffi Tito, Legler, Sara Elisabetta, Rossi Vittorio, Mugnai Laura, Benanchi M, Colombini AAbstract:The transition from conventional to integrated pest management and, more in general, to integrated production requires an increase of knowledge about the vineyard system and includes also an increase of limits and fulfilments. The vineyard manager needs to be more and more informed and has to take several decisions for the proper management of the vineyard. Therefore, a web-based Decision Support System (DSS) was developed for guiding decision about tactical management of the integrated vineyard. The DSS is provided by Horta srl, a Spin-off Company of the University of Piacenza (www.horta-srl.com), and is available for registered users via the internet in an interactive way. It is composed by: (i) a network of weather stations that send real time data, (ii) a server repository that stores the weather data; (iii) an user interface that makes it possible to readily input vineyard-specific information and obtain supports for informed decision- making; (iv) a set of mathematical models that use weather data and vineyard-specific information to predict the epidemiology of the main grapevine fungal diseases and the plant development. Output provides information on: (i) current weather conditions and 3-day forecasts; (ii) the growth stage of the plants; (iii) information and decision supports for primary and secondary infections of Plasmopara viticola and Erysiphe necator, causal agent of grapevine downy and powdery mildew, respectively. In particular, two weather-driven, mechanistic, dynamic models are used to provide the following information for P. viticola: dynamic of the oospore population; occurrence of the main events for primary infections (oospores germination, zoospores release and dispersal, infection establishment and appearance of downy mildew lesions); infection severity and epidemic pressure of primary infections; fitness of the sporulating lesions and availability of the secondary inoculum; relative severity and epidemic pressure of secondary infections. Similar models provides information for primary and secondary infection of E. necator: the dynamic of chasmothecia population, the release and dispersal of ascospores, the infection establishment and the symptoms onset, as well as the production of secondary inoculum and its efficacy in causing new infections. Within the FP7-KBBE project "Pesticide Use-and-risk Reduction in European farming systems with Integrated Pest Management" (PURE) 16 commercial vineyards across Italy were managed so as to compare the management according to the DSS, the usual grower\u2019s practice and an untreated control. Results collected during the first season confirmed the advantages due to the use of the DSS, in terms of rationalisation of fungicide schedule with a reduction of the number of treatments till to 36%. Other commercial vineyards will be managed according to the DSS in the following grapevine-growing seasons to further validate the DSS and demonstrate t he benefits rising from its use
Abrahamsso Pette - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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User Interface Design for Quality Control : Development of a user interface for quality control of industrial manufactured parts
Luleå tekniska universitet Institutionen för ekonomi teknik och samhälle, 2020Co-Authors: Abrahamsso PetteAbstract:The expected quality on manufactured components in the automotive industry is high, often with an accuracy of tenths of a millimeter. The conventional methods used to ensure the manufactured components are very accurate, but they are both time consuming and insufficient and only a small part of the produced series are analyzed today. The measurement is performed manually in so-called measurement fixtures. Where each component is fixed and predetermined points of investigation are controlled with a dial indicator. These fixtures are very expensive to manufacture and they are only compatible with one specific kind of component. Nowadays, great volumes of material are scrapped from these procedures in the automotive industry. Hence, there is a great need to increase the amount of controlled components without affecting the production rate negatively. This project was carried out for the relatively new Company Viospatia, which is a Spin-off Company based on research from Luleå University of Technology. They have developed a system that automatically measures each component directly at the production line with the use of photogrammetry technology. This makes it possible to discover erroneous components almost immediately and the manufacturer gets a more distinct view of their production and its capability. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate how a user interface should be developed to be as user-friendly as possible without limiting the system’s functions. The objective has been to design a proposal of a user interface adapted for the intended user, creating value and is easy to use. The progression has been structured around a human-centered approach expedient for interaction design, where the developing phase, containing analyze, design and validate, is performed through iterations with continuous feedback from users and the project’s employer. The context, where the intended solution is supposed to be used, was investigated through interviews and observations at the involved companies. In the project there were three factories involved, Gestamp Hardtech and Scania Ferruform in Luleå and Volvo Cars in Olofström. These factories are using similar production methods, sheet metal stamping, so their prerequisites and needs are similar for this type of quality control system. Creative methods have been applied throughout the project to generate as much ideas as possible while trying to satisfy all the important aspects. Initially analog prototypes were created but they were soon developed to digital interactive prototypes. A larger usability-test was conducted with seven participants by using a weblink to the digital prototype. With support from the feedback these tests generated some adjustments were made and the final user interface was designed, separated in two levels - Supervisor and Operator. Through extensive literature study and user-testing it became clear that the operator needs to get an unmistakable message from the user interface. There should not be any doubts whatsoever and the operator should react immediately. This message is delivered with the use of colors that have an established meaning. By identifying what needs the different actors have, the system’s functions can be separated and made accessible only for the intended user. The functions can then be more specifically developed for the intended user instead of modifying them trying to make a compromise that fits everybody. This separation of functions is not anything the user has to actively do but it is performed automatically by the user interface when the user is signing in.Den förväntade kvalitén på tillverkade delar inom bilindustrin är väldigt hög, med toleranser på så lite som tiondels millimeter många gånger. De konventionella metoderna som används för att kontrollmäta de tillverkade delarna idag är mycket noggranna, men de är både tidskrävande och otillräckliga och endast en väldigt liten del av en producerad serie blir kontrollmätt idag. Mätningen utförs manuellt i så kallade mätfixturer. Där varje komponent fixeras och förutbestämda undersökningspunkter kontrolleras med en så kallad mätklocka. Dessa fixturer är även väldigt dyra att tillverka och de är bara kompatibla med en specifik komponent. I dagens läge så kasseras otroligt stora mängder material från dessa komponenter inom bilindustrin. Här finns det alltså ett stort behov för att öka mängden komponenter som kontrolleras utan att påverka tillverkningstakten. Det här projektet utfördes åt det relativt nystartade företaget Viospatia, vilket är ett Spin-off företag från forskning utförd vid Luleå tekniska universitet. De har utvecklat ett system som med hjälp av fotogrammetri automatiskt mäter av varje komponent direkt i produktionslinan. Detta gör att eventuella fel upptäcks nästan omedelbart samtidigt som tillverkaren får en tydligare bild av sin produktion och dess kapacitet. Syftet med denna masteruppsats har varit att undersöka hur ett gränssnitt bör utvecklas för att det ska bli så användarvänligt som möjligt utan att begränsa systemets viktiga funktioner. Målet har varit att ta fram ett förslag på ett gränssnitt som är anpassat för den tänkta användaren, som skapar ett mervärde och är enkelt att använda. Processen har följt en användarcentrerad struktur fördelaktig för interaktionsdesign, där utvecklingsfasen bestående av analys, design och validering sker i flera iterationer med kontinuerlig återkoppling med användare och uppdragsgivare. Kontexten, där den tänkta lösningen ska användas, undersöktes initialt hos de involverade företagen. I projektet var tre fabriker involverade, Gestamp Hardtech och Scania Ferruform i Luleå och Volvo Cars i Olofström. Dessa fabriker använder mestadels liknande tillverkningsmetoder, metallpressning, vilket gör att de rimligtvis har en del gemensamma förutsättningar och behov. Under arbetets gång har diverse kreativa metoder använts för att generera så mycket idéer som möjligt utan att förbise viktiga aspekter. Till en början utvecklades prototyper analogt för att sedan utvecklas till digitala interaktiva prototyper. Ett större användbarhetstest genomfördes på distans med sju testpersoner via en länk till den digitala prototypen. Med hjälp av responsen från dessa tester gjordes en del ändringar och den slutliga designen på gränssnittet blev uppdelat i två nivåer, Supervisor och Operator. Genom teoristudie och användartester framgick det att operatören behöver få en omisskännlig uppmaning från gränssnittet. Det bör inte uppstå några som helst tveksamheter och operatören skall kunna agera direkt. Denna uppmaning sker genom en tydlig färgkodning som utnyttjar vedertagna uppfattningar om färgers innebörd. Genom att identifiera vilka behov de olika aktörerna har kan man på så sätt också hålla isär de olika funktionerna och göra de tillgängliga endast för den typen av aktör som behöver de. De kan på så sätt också utvecklas mer specifikt för den tänkta aktören istället för att modifieras för att passa alla. Denna separering av funktioner är inget som användaren behöver ställa in själv utan görs automatiskt då den loggar in med sitt användarkonto
Amran Rasli - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Assessment of university Spin-off Company competitiveness based on products performance and expert opinion: a case study on bioproduct based Spin-off Company
Advanced Science Letters, 2017Co-Authors: Mohammad Iqbal Rizky Fauzan, Yuniaristanto, Muh. Hisjam, Amran RasliAbstract:A university Spin-off (USO) Company is a form of science and technology application in the field of economics and this Company was built by a university with the aim of marketing the products of their research. But a Spin-off Company management usually consist of academic practitioner that lack of business experience so a Company competitiveness assessment is needed to design a business strategies for better management and policy also for this Company to survive in the market and reach it’s true potential. This paper aim is to assess a Spin-off Company competitiveness based on products performance using BCG matrix and expert opinion using a questionnaire based on porter’s five forces model and an expert opinion assessment questionnaire (delphi method) using a bio product based USO as case study. The study shows that only 3 products are classified as star category in BCG matrix, threat of substitute product is the biggest threat for the Company based on porter’s model, and also marketing is the most important factor for Company development based on delphi method. Those findings can help the Company to understand better their business and develop further their internal policy.
Fregoni C. - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The experience of application of a web-based Decision Support System in the Iberian peninsula for the sustainable management of vineyards
place:Vila Real, 2019Co-Authors: Gonzalez-dominguez E., Legler S. E., Reyes-aybar J., Giralt L., Val C., Fregoni C.Abstract:Directive 128/2009/EC on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides makes mandatory the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) across Europe. IPM promotes low pesticide control of harmful organisms based on crop monitoring and decision support tools. Vite.net\uae is a Decision Support System (DSS) developed by Horta (www.horta-srl.com), a Spin-off Company of the Universit\ue0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, in Italy. The DSS is a web-based tool able to: i) collect multiple information/data in real-time about different vineyard components (air, soil, plants, pests, and diseases) by using IoT technologies; ii) analyze these data by advanced modelling and bigdata solutions; and iii) make up-to-date information, alerts and decision supports for vineyard management. The DSS considers grapevine growth and development, risk for diseases (downy and powdery mildews, black-rot and Botrytis bunch rot) and pests (berry moth, American leafhopper and mealybugs), protection dynamics of fungicide applications, and abiotic stresses (drought, low and high temperatures). The DSS is available for Italian growers since 2013 and it is used by hundreds of farmers. Since 2015, the DSS is available also in Spain and Portugal. In this work, we show the results of two pilot runs developed in Spain and Portugal to evaluate the use of vite.net, primarily for the management of downy mildew in vineyards. In Spain, the DSS was evaluated in the Pened\ue8s region (Nort-East Spain) by the regional service of plant health (SISTEMIO project). The evaluation was performed in 18 vineyards in 2016 and 2017, by comparing the DSS output concerning primary and secondary infections of Plasmopara viticola, fungicide treatments performed by the growers, and the disease development. In Portugal, the DSS was evaluated in the Alto Douro region (North Portugal) by the Association for the Development of Viticulture in the Douro Region (ADVID). In this case, the evaluation was performed in two vineyards from 2016 to 2018, by comparing the DSS output with disease observations in the vineyards; additional validations are still on going on 4 vineyards in 2019. Results of both pilot runs show a substantial agreement between the DSS output and vineyards\u2019 observations