ITHS Summer Fellowships 2016
WRF Summer Fellowships 2016
The ITHS and WRF Summer Fellowship programs provide graduate students an opportunity to experience the
process of building a commercialization plan for a promising technology. The Fellowships are designed to apply the
skills and perspectives of students in learning how to work effectively with colleagues from other disciplines in
assessing complex situations. Past Fellows have included students from bio-engineering, business, engineering, health
sciences, information science, international relations, and law.
Fellows are paired with technologies from CoMotion and are supervised by mentors from ITHS and WRF, the Buerk
Center for Entrepreneurship, and CoMotion, along with the technology inventors. Students will attend regular
update meetings with the CoMotion New Ventures team (at the discretion of the technology manager), two
lunches with the Buerk Center to share information and resources, and complete a final presentation at the
end of the program for everyone involved.
The expectation is that the ITHS and WRF Fellowship positions are a minimum of 30 hours a week, June
20 - August 26. The Buerk Center pays $10,000 total per student for the summer ($5,000 July 25, $5,000 Aug. 25).
Schedule and Work Plan
(June 20 - August 26)
PHASE 1 – TECHNOLOGY DISCOVERY AND EVALUATION
Duration: June 20 - July 3
Deliverables Due and CoMotion Update Meeting: July 5
Deliverables: Email your written summary report (3-5 pages) to both Jeanette Ennis and Samantha Ogle by 10 AM
on the due date. One student brings everyone’s 10-15 minute slide decks to the meeting on a thumb drive.
Audience: ITHS, WRF, Buerk Center, and CoMotion.
Outline of Deliverables:
1) Technology Assessment
a) Technology description (in layman’s terms)
b) Technology boundaries and realities of use
c) Technology features and benefits
d) Technology differentiation (unique qualities)
e) Timeline for technology/product development
2) Potential “pain” addressed, problem solved, or new capability enabled by the technology – what is the
business application and how robust is it?
This deliverable serves as a defense of the choice of technology (assuming there is more than one) and identifies the
technology-specific questions remaining to be answered.
PHASE 2 – MARKET OPPORTUNITY ASSESSMENT & ANALYSIS
Duration: July 4 - July 17
Deliverables Due and CoMotion Update Meeting: July 19
Deliverables: Email your written summary report (3-5 pages) to both Jeanette Ennis and Samantha Ogle by 10 AM
on the due date. One student brings everyone’s 10-15 minute slide decks to the meeting on a thumb drive.
Audience: ITHS, WRF, Buerk Center, and CoMotion.
Outline of Deliverables:
1) Market analysis
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a) What markets would benefit by the application of the technology to a product or a service?
b) How large is the market opportunity?
c) What are the market drivers? (price, size, speed)
d) What are the customer requirements for the market?
e) Potential adoption rate
2) Ideal Solutions
a) Form (what are ideals for footprint, ease of use, etc.)
b) Fit (how well do the characteristics of the technology permit you to meet the preferences of the market)
c) Function (how well does the ideal solution actually perform)
This deliverable serves as a defense of the choice of market (assuming there is more than one) and narrows the
technology-specific and business-specific questions remaining to be answered.
PHASE 3 – PRODUCT ASSESSMENT & ANALYSIS
Duration: July 18 – July 31
Deliverables Due and CoMotion Update Meeting: August 2
Deliverables: Email your written summary report (3-5 pages) to both Jeanette Ennis and Samantha Ogle by 10 AM
on the due date. One student brings everyone’s 10-15 minute slide decks to the meeting on a thumb drive.
Audience: ITHS, WRF, Buerk Center, and CoMotion.
Outline of Deliverables:
1) Target market (industry) analysis
a) Target customer description
b) Market players, share, and growth analysis
c) Distribution channel analysis – how does the customer buy today?
d) Regulatory considerations
e) Important marketing or business development relationships
2) Product analysis
a) Points of differentiation & strength of offering
b) Substitution risk analysis:
i) Points of parity/points of difference
ii) Switching costs
iii) Price/performance
c) Barriers to entry
i) Costs
ii) Retaliation
iii) IP issues
3) Competitive considerations
a) Primary competition
b) Likely competitive respondents
4) Overall assessment and conclusions
This deliverable serves as a defense of the choice of product or service (assuming there is more than one) and
narrows the technology-specific and business-specific questions remaining to be answered.
PHASE 4 – MODEL ASSESSMENT & ANALYSIS
Duration: August 1 - August 14
Deliverables Due and CoMotion Update Meeting: August 16
Deliverables: Email your written summary report (3-5 pages) to both Jeanette Ennis and Samantha Ogle by 10 AM
on the due date. One student brings everyone’s 10-15 minute slide decks to the meeting on a thumb drive.
Audience: ITHS, WRF, Buerk Center, and CoMotion.
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Outline of Deliverables:
1) Transaction unit analysis
a) What is the basic unit of business for the company?
b) How much will it cost to make the product or deliver the service?
2) What does it cost to sell the product or service?
a) How will you sell the product or service?
b) What are the costs?
c) What challenges are there for this approach?
3) Revenue model
a) How many customers can you reach?
b) What is the revenue ramp?
4) Business model
a) What is the best way to set up the business?
b) What are the costs of being in business?
5) Summary financials
a) Investment capital required
b) Cash flow and income statement
6) Overall assessment and conclusions
This deliverable is intended to express the decisions and assumptions of the previous phases in a financial model and
associated set of assumptions.
PHASE 5 – FINAL PRESENTATION PREPARATION
Duration: August 15 - 26
Deliverables: Written summary business plan (10 – 15 pages, including spreadsheets) due to Jeanette Ennis and
Samantha Ogle, and a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation summarizing the finding of the preceding four phases,
making specific recommendations regarding the technology and its applications, and including a decision as to
whether to pursue the development of a comprehensive business plan. Final presentation to be delivered to the PIs,
tech managers, ITHS and WRF, the Buerk Center, and invited guests related to the technologies.
Deliverables Due: August 26
Presentations and the final report will be critiqued on the quality and strength of the analysis, synthesis of the
important factors, and the collaboration with outside colleagues and mentors.
Buerk Center Lunches: (Fellows only)
July 9
12 – 2 PM
Buerk Center, Dempsey Hall Room 233
August 6
12 – 2 PM
Buerk Center, Dempsey Hall Room 233
CoMotion Update Meetings:
July 5
2:30 – 5 PM, at CoMotion, 4th Flr Conference Room, Roosevelt Commons
July 19
2:30 – 5 PM, at CoMotion, 4th Flr Conference Room, Roosevelt Commons
August 2
2:30 – 5 PM, at CoMotion, 4th Flr Conference Room, Roosevelt Commons
August 16
2:30 – 5 PM, at CoMotion, 4th Flr Conference Room, Roosevelt Commons
Final Presentations:
August 25
1 – 5 PM, Foster School of Business, room is TBA
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