 Novartis OTC
pro-actively seeking working relationships with SBIR-STTR involved firms
With corporate interest at senior levels, broad- based management support and useful
listings of active
areas
of technology partnering interest, Novartis OTC is the most
recent major
corporation to assume the formal Tech
Seeker role pro-actively
to engage the considerable talent of SBIR-STTR involved small firms
through the vehicle of the highly focused and very effective inknowvation@work® process.
Consistent with the inknowvation@work®
approach to focusing on the technology partnering needs of a single
major/mid-sized corporation in their role as Tech Seeker, this carefully
structured Working Event
- is focused
entirely to the NINE areas of Technology Development interest indicated
by Novartis OTC each having various related sub-areas
- and will be held September
21-22, 2011 at a hotel close by the Novartis OTC facilities in Parsippany, NJ.
_____________________
Benefit
of chosen location:
An
important benefit of running this type of inherently interesting,
inter- active event at a location convenient to the Tech
Seeker is that a
range
of relevant large firm personnel - executive, management and
technical
- are invariably actively event-involved at some level.
Not
at all the usual state of affairs.
At a minimum
this involvement may be purely social but more often it can
become business and technology development related. In fact, it has
been our experience that this type of active engagement
- serves
well to give senior
decision-makers a powerful
sense of
just how good you guys really are.
- In turn,
this has often meant useful buy-in to the notion of the busi- ness value of
active SBIR relationships to the corporation....a factor that can be
important in pulling any particular deal and/or group of deals to
consummation.
By
invitation: relevant
skill sets and capabilities
Present in Parsippany will be 30-35
SBIR-STTR-involved firms selected
from among
those who follow up on this General Alert email and, more
importantly, those who are responsive to the TOPs (Technology Opport-
unity
Projects) - the specific emails for which we will begin processing shortly.
The latter are processed
to
those SBIR awardees whom we judge to have directly relevant by-topic
expertise.
Selection process:
Typically,
these initial emails target a few hundred, appropriately skilled
SBIR awardees. This
preliminary are-you-interested invitation is solidly based in the
record of achievement of each small firm as indicated in our
comprehensive proprietary databases - business profile,
awards (SBIR and others), issued patents, professional and business
recognition, management bios, professional
papers etc
- Of that
group
some 50% will visit the Event Site - already operational.
- About 40%
of
those actively engage the system - ask questions, submit White papers
etc
- As a
general
rule, some
50-60 stay the course and request invitation to the Event
The final decision of which
SBIR awardees are invited is made by Novartis OTC personnel. Typically it is our experience that these decisions are
grounded primarily in
- whether
there is reasonable likelihood of a match between what the
Corporation is seeking and what the small firm has to offer.
These are not tire-kicking exercises and no-one wants to
waste your time
- the
further data that particular awardees have provided through the system
which suggest that they have
technology development
skills and
capabilities
relevant to the areas of technical and business interests indicated by Novartis OTC
Getting down to business:
Organized around Novartis OTC areas of business and technology interest, - all listed on the event website to include a Q/A and White Paper submission option - the carefully crafted Event Schedule builds out from extensive pre-event interaction to include a range of opportunities
- to meet, listen to, and have extensive technology and business interaction with a cross-section of senior, decision-making personnel from the European HQ and US Novartis OTC.
- to determine in that level of detail possible in a non-NDA/CDA context, what they're looking for and the types of relationships they have in mind -- fundamentally, in effect, to learn how they do business
- to provide them, in turn, with detailed understanding and useful insight into what you would bring to the table in such relationships
The effectiveness of this careful matching approach is no better proven than by the fact that real deals get done ... and lots of them
Real
deals do get done!
The ASSET system
achieved track record overall of getting SBIR awardees to actual
working relationships
has been impressive to date. In the two-three years we have offered
this, there have been hundreds of post-event interactions, dozens of
serious substantive discussion and many consummated deals already
factoring to over $100M.
However,
this extra factor of active
on-site engagement
of senior
decision-makers has meant that the yield-to-attendee
ratio of working
relationships and deals coming out of the inknowvation@work® sessions
has
been consistently better.
...
and in the final analysis, it's all about
getting
to an actual business relationship.
______________
Novartis
AG: Strong SBIR-STTR
involvement already in place
Those
with Novartis OTC having
external outreach responsibility have
for some time been active in the various ASSETs related events - the
Annual
Forums and ...
focused on sessions etc.
Importantly, the parent corporation
Novartis
AG has already established a
strong presence with SBIR-STTR involved firms.
- The
Novartis Corporate VC Fund has invested in THIRTY (30)
SBIR involved firms to date.
- Established in 1996 and
functional over that entire period, these thirty investment represent
some 23% of all Novartis Venture investments having an
SBIR connection
- The
extent of this involvement ranks Novartis 13th in terms of all the VC
entities with SBIR-involved firms in their portfolio and 2nd only to
SR One (the investment arm of Glaxo) in ranked Corporate
VC Funds.
- Novartis
has acquired FOUR (4) SBIR-involved firms
- but,
perhaps
even more telling, the corporation has (has had) working relationships
of various types with 42 SBIR-involved firms of which we are
aware. Since these are not 'reportable events', it is likely that this number is actually significantly higher.
Areas of focus for inknowvation@work® session
With a global presence, Novartis OTC has a robust portfolio of market leading brands covering most OTC segments. Products are designed for in-home treatment and for prevention of medical conditions and ailments.
1. Current areas of therapeutic interest:
- allergy symptoms, cough and cold, and respiratory condition
- gastrointestinal and digestive health
- pain management as well as analgesics
- skin care products
- smoking cessation treatments
- and mineral supplements
2. Areas of cross-product interest:
- Rx-to OTC switches and new product developments. These can range from simple line extensions to achievement of industry firsts in new technologies and superior delivery systems.
- Novel forms of drug delivery. Development experience has previously included a wide-range of dose forms including oral, orodispersible, topical, transdermal patches and gels/creams and nasal sprays.
3. Areas of new market interest
- Insomnia
- Lowering cholesterol and cardio-vascular health
Cost
of your involvement?
- With Novartis OTC assuming the role of
host, there will NO-COST to SBIR-STTR
involved firms for
- Pre-event
online involvement
- any
and all materials submission
- and/or
for Event Participation for those who are selected to attend
- Invited
attendees will be expected to cover all their own incurred cost of
travel to event site and overnight accommodations. To hold these costs
to reasonable levels
- Notification
of selection for involvement will be made as early as possible -
permitting advanced booking of travel
- The
effort will be to negotiate a block of rooms at the somewhat lower
corporate rate available to Novartis
- Consistent
with our normal practice, commission on deals which come out of the
event will be limited to
- the
first transaction only
- and
will be dollar-level capped.
Details
available on request.
Be reminded that Awardees with current Advanced Individual Account are
eligible for their usual 10% discount - in this case applied against
the Consummated Deal Fee. |
