Science-to-business marketing

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Science-to-business marketing (S2B marketing) entails the marketing of research conducted at research institutions, particularly universities, to industry or other interested parties. The acronym S2B follows a series of marketing acronyms used to shorten and popularise marketing specialisations, including (B2C) (business-to-consumer marketing) and (B2B) (business-to-business marketing).

Contents

Introduction to science-to-business marketing

Science-to-Business (S2B) Marketing aims at the use of marketing principles for the area of science, supporting the successful commercialisation of research competencies, capacities and results from a research institution to its research customers. [1] The objective thereby is to develop, test and provide new models, instruments and proceedings for research commercialisation that enable universities and research institutions to market their research more effectively. The approach uses existing instruments from Business to Business Marketing, Service Marketing and Technology & Innovation Marketing.

The special feature of S2B Marketing is the determination of the market, in particular, industry, as the starting point for all research activities. S2B is generally focused on technology-intensive departments but can also be applied in all disciplines of research. The industry engaged in research and development is identified as the key target market. This leads to research customers, who are willing to pay for scientific research, being the centre of consideration.

Research impact – the need for science / industry interaction

Today's marketplace is characterised by increased competition, rapid change and a shift towards knowledge-based economies. This development is fostered by factors such as rapid technological developments, globalisation and the maturing of domestic markets. With innovation enabling an economy's success under these conditions, [2] [3] research has become a key driver in economic performance. [4] An extensive outsourcing of research to specialised institutions such as universities has resulted in an increased number of linkages between industry entities and universities. [4] [5] [6] [7] These relationships and commercialisation projects provide a great potential to foster innovation, leading to a need to pay particular attention to the management of technology commercialisation processes.

In the last decade, both private organisations as well as public institutions have increased their combined efforts to foster the transfer of knowledge, in order to respond to the rapid change in their competitive landscapes and the worldwide speed of innovation. [7] Especially, the great significance of innovation is regarded as the catalyst for an extended orientation towards University-Industry-Relationships. Taken into consideration the global tendency towards a decrease in public research funding, the commercialisation of scientific research is one of the most critical challenges for innovative research and development. For the purpose of establishing efficient collaborations between industrial and entrepreneurial partners, researchers are required to incorporate the service dimension of their scientific work more strongly. S2B Marketing thereby helps to successfully commercialise research and strengthens the linkage between research organisations and industry.

Organisations involved in science-to-business marketing

Essentially there are two main actors in the commercialisation process: research institutions and industry or government departments interested in purchasing research outcomes or capabilities.

1. Research organisations build closer links with industry in order to:

2. Industry engages research institutions for a number of reasons:

- Access to public funds
- Access to university research results
- Access to university competencies and innovation capacity

3. Furthermore, society benefits from the cooperation between research and industry in a number of ways:

Process of Science-to-Business Marketing

Following Sabisch and Walter Process of s2bm wiki.jpg
Following Sabisch and Walter

Science-to-business (S2B) marketing aims to streamline the promotion and sale of researchers' work, typically originating from academic institutions and research centers. In this approach, scientists actively engage in transferring technology and knowledge. S2B endeavors to disseminate scientific innovation and expertise while also safeguarding intellectual property, employing both traditional marketing methods such as trade shows and direct responses, as well as online and content marketing strategies like those found on websites and scientific company blogs. Science-to-business (S2B) marketing, also referred to as science marketing, promotes commercial growth and innovation by leveraging scientific research and technical advancements. It involves applying scientific knowledge and research findings to develop commercial products and services that meet consumer needs. Science marketing focuses on simplifying complex scientific concepts into practical and financially viable solutions, enabling seamless integration of scientific understanding and business objectives. By bridging the gap between academia and industry, science marketing facilitates the commercialization of scientific ideas, enabling firms to remain competitive and utilize cutting-edge research for the development of new products and services. Below is a guide for applying the scientific method to marketing experiments, comprising five key steps: 1. Formulate your research question: Clearly define what you want to learn or test through your marketing experiment, ensuring it is specific and measurable. 2. Develop your hypothesis: Based on your research question, create a prediction or educated guess about the outcome of your experiment. 3. Design your experiment: Determine how you will gather data to test your hypothesis, which may involve creating different versions of marketing campaigns or trying various tactics. Ensure to include a control group for comparison. 4. Collect and analyze data: Utilize your designed methods to collect data on the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Analyze the data to determine if it supports or refutes your hypothesis. 5. Draw conclusions and apply findings: Based on your analysis, assess whether your hypothesis was supported. If so, utilize the results to inform future marketing strategies. If not, revise your hypothesis and repeat the experiment.

Challenges in the Science-to-Business Interaction

Extracting value in the form of research-based technologies and innovations from the university and research organisations is a challenge faced by technology transfer offices, regional development agencies and Governments, and, of course, by Universities and business organisations the world over. [13] Despite the illustrated prominence of technology commercialisation and university-industry links, little research and few suitable approaches exist. In fact, the challenge is not a lack of technology offers or entrepreneurs / capitalists / companies (from here referred to as the 'partners of technology transfer') with needs to receive the technology, but it is the transfer and partnering process itself that requires most attention.

Differing priorities between research institutions and industry and/or entrepreneurs have been cited as a reason for this. [14] For instance, research institutions are, contrary to result- / market-oriented businesses, more process-oriented and primary focused on new knowledge. These different types of research objectives, coupled with differences in organisational cultures [7] relate to different behaviour exhibited by researchers and business people. This, in turn, has a significant impact on the creation of partnerships and a successful transfer of technologies. These issues have proven to be very complex, with a deep-rooted misunderstanding between the two not being sufficiently and adequately addressed. [15] Therefore, a strategic marketing approach is needed in order to assess and extract entrepreneurial value from University research most effectively.

However, a large number of these linkages fail, [15] and a recent study on information and communication technology industries showed organisations to perceive research institutes and cooperative research centres as the least important source of information, knowledge and skills. [16] Despite their importance and frequent failures, however, research on university–industry relationships (UIR) and the factors influencing their fate, especially from a marketing perspective, remains sparse. However, there is a growing research understanding in the area of Science-to-Business marketing.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innovation</span> Practical implementation of improvements

Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity, realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.

The knowledge economy, or knowledge-based economy, is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific innovation. The key element of value is the greater dependence on human capital and intellectual property as the source of innovative ideas, information and practices. Organisations are required to capitalise on this "knowledge" in their production to stimulate and deepen the business development process. There is less reliance on physical input and natural resources. A knowledge-based economy relies on the crucial role of intangible assets within the organisations' settings in facilitating modern economic growth.

Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform inventions and scientific outcomes into new products and services that benefit society. Technology transfer is closely related to knowledge transfer.

Open innovation is a term used to promote an information age mindset toward innovation that runs counter to the secrecy and silo mentality of traditional corporate research labs. The benefits and driving forces behind increased openness have been noted and discussed as far back as the 1960s, especially as it pertains to interfirm cooperation in R&D. Use of the term 'open innovation' in reference to the increasing embrace of external cooperation in a complex world has been promoted in particular by Henry Chesbrough, adjunct professor and faculty director of the Center for Open Innovation of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, and Maire Tecnimont Chair of Open Innovation at Luiss.

The Southern Education and Research Alliance (SERA), founded in 1999, is a strategic alliance formed between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The alliance collaborates locally and internationally with universities, NGO's, companies and multinational bodies in various research areas. Sera has a 50% shareholding in the Innovation Hub, a fully accredited technology park situated on 60 hectares of the university's experimental farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celltech</span> Former British-based biotechnology firm

Celltech Group plc was a leading British-based biotechnology business based in Slough. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Celltech was instrumental in changing the UK's system of technology transfer from research to business, and in creating the biotechnology industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Scientific Society</span>

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Innovation management is a combination of the management of innovation processes, and change management. It refers to product, business process, marketing and organizational innovation. Innovation management is the subject of ISO 56000 series standards being developed by ISO TC 279.

The technological innovation system is a concept developed within the scientific field of innovation studies which serves to explain the nature and rate of technological change. A Technological Innovation System can be defined as ‘a dynamic network of agents interacting in a specific economic/industrial area under a particular institutional infrastructure and involved in the generation, diffusion, and utilization of technology’.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technology Innovation Agency</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science and technology in the Netherlands</span> Overview of science and technology in the Netherlands

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References

  1. 1 2 Baaken, Thomas (2003): Science Marketing, in: Kamenz. U. (Ed.) Applied Marketing: Anwendungsorientierte Marketingwissenschaft der deutschen Fachhochschulen, Berlin, pp. 1051–1066.
  2. ↑ Furman, Jeffrey; Porter, Michael; Stern, Scott (2002): The determinants of national innovative capacity, Research Policy 31, pp. 899–933.
  3. ↑ PMSEIC Independent Working Group (1998): 'University-industry linked research in Australia', Canberra: The Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.
  4. 1 2 OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, (2001).
  5. ↑ Poyago-Theotoky, Joanna; Beat, John; Siegel, Donald (2002): Universities and fundamental research: Reflections on the growth of university-industry partnerships, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 18(1), pp. 10–21.
  6. ↑ Etzkowitz, Henry; Leydesdorff, Loet (2000): The dynamics of innovation: from national systems and "Mode 2" to a triple helix of university-industry-government relations, Research Policy 29, pp. 109–123.
  7. 1 2 3 Plewa, Carolin; Quester, Pascale (2007): Key drivers of university-industry relationships: the role of organizational compatibility and personal experience, Journal of Services Marketing, 21(5), pp. 370–382.
  8. 1 2 Lambert, Richard (2003): Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration. HMSO, London.
  9. ↑ Bok, Derek (2003): Universities in the Marketplace.
  10. ↑ Schartinger, Doris; Schibany, Andras; Gassler, Helmut (2001): Interactive relations between universities and firms: empirical evidence for Austria, Journal of Technology Transfer, 26(3), pp. 255–268.
  11. ↑ Sabisch, Helmut (2003), Erfolgsfaktoren des Wissens- und Technologietransfers. In: Pleschak, Franz (Ed.): Technologietransfer – Anforderungen und Entwicklungs-tendenzen, Dokumentation einer Tagung des Fraunhofer-Institut für Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, Stuttgart 2003, pp. 17–26.
  12. ↑ Walter, Achim (2003), Technologietransfer zwischen Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft. Voraussetzungen für den Erfolg, Wiesbaden.
  13. ↑ Baaken, Thomas; Francis, Anthony; Davey, Todd; Kliewe, Thorsten(2008): A model for the assessment and extraction of entrepreneurial value from University research, Promoting Entrepreneurship by Universities Conference Proceedings, Hämeenlinna, Finland.
  14. ↑ Belkhodja, Omar; Landry, Réjean (2005): "The triple-helix collaboration : Why do researchers collaborate with industry and the government? What are the factors that influence the perceived barriers?"
  15. 1 2 Cyert, Richard; Goodman, Paul (1997): Creating effective university–industry alliances: an organizational learning perspective, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 45–57.
  16. ↑ Hyland, Paul; Marceau, Jane; Sloan, Tarry (2004): Sources of innovation and ideas in ICT Firms in Australia, in 5th International CINet Conference, Sydney, pp. 870–879.
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