The last couple of days on the Kellogg course (today and last week) have probably been the toughest so far. We have had 7.5 hrs of Finance, 4.5 hrs of Operations Management and 3 hrs of Risk Management and Competitive Strategy.

Finance with Efraim Benmelech has been the hardest of these to grasp, despite having taken 10 credits of courses in Investment Planning and Financial Planning at Åbo Akademi a few years ago. However, I am really grateful I took these classes at ÅA. They gave me the chance to practice the process of actually valuing projects, and allowed me to become familiar with the concepts. I would have been so much more lost without that background. For the Kellogg course we were given a crash course in how to value projects and companies using Net Present Value (NPV), Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC). In particular, we were shown the pitfalls of considering certain entities and allowing outside influences to cloud our decisions. The case studies in the Kellogg course were more complex than what I had used at ÅA, with many more variables added in to consider (and also confuse!) when thinking about project valuation. Something that resonated with me, was the concept of ignoring what are called sunk costs. Sunk costs are investments that have already been made before the decision to do a project is made, such as equipment or buildings. The mistake many people make is to take into account these prior investments when making a decision to do a project. From a financial perspective this is the wrong thing to do, we should only consider the future value of a project, not what has already been done.

Operations Management with Gad Allon was really interesting. We were introduced to “Lean Operations” a similar concept to the ideas described in the bestselling book “The Lean Startup” by Eric Reis, usually a must-read for anyone working with startups (Something I should get around to reading, after I finish “Studies on Science and the Innovation Process” by Nathan Rosenberg – a book that is getting sandy since I have started taking it to the beach with me!). The idea behind Lean Operations is that you map your process of how you are doing something, such as manufacturing a laptop. Then you look at where there is waste occurring in your process. Then, you take steps to eliminate waste, e.g. moving your suppliers closer to your main factory so you don’t waste time and costs in transportation. This is something that Dell embraced. Another example would be to consider where you have quality control in your process. Do you only have a quality control step at the end, or is your quality control at strategic points in your process so that you can catch mistakes along the way and rectify them, rather than only catching them at the end. We actually did a practical exercise to illustrate this concept to us. Thinking about my PhD, this concept is familiar to anyone undertaking scientific experiments. For example during cloning of a plasmid. Do you perform all the steps of cloning at once and only at the end check if it worked? Or, do you spend a bit of time in between steps to check you are actually getting the cloning products you are expecting along the way? While the latter way is slower, at least you have the chance to catch where in the process a technique has failed.

The last set of sessions today were in Risk Management with Nabil Al-Najjar. This was a very engaging set of lectures. It touched on some of the principles we learnt in the Finance lectures but then introduced us to some tools used in the process of Risk Management. One of the most useful tools was the Pre-mortem. Often companies are unable to evaluate areas of risk. Perhaps because they are clouded by hubris, or the organisational structure means that not all voices get heard during planning meetings. An example would be that a junior team member feels unable to voice a dissenting opinion about a project, because they feel afraid of looking like they aren’t supportive. It is also quite difficult to look forward and consider all the different things that could go wrong with a project. One way to resolve this is to perform a pre-mortem. This is based on the idea that hindsight is 20/20. A scenario is given to a team that their project failed spectacularly sometime in the future. They then need to put themselves at that time in the project and look back and think of all the ways the project could have failed. Be it from something mundane, to something quite extreme, but plausible. We actually did practice this and it was surprisingly easy to look back rather than forward.

What I am really enjoying about the Kellogg courses is the wide variety of subjects we are being exposed to. It’s a shame we do not get to practice everything as thoroughly as you would in a full MBA program. However, I think this course gives us a better grounding as future managers and project leaders to understand the various tools and processes used in the corporate environment.

The first proper working week here has been great. The week started off with the Kellogg School of Management course “Management for Scientists and Engineers”. This is a one day a week, intensive course, held over 8 weeks. The days are pretty long, from 8.30am to around 6pm and we are required to do some pre-reading. If you don’t do the pre-reads you will be pretty stuck in class, and risk looking pretty stupid when you are asked questions about them. The lectures have been amazing. On this first week we learnt about Economics & Strategy which was delivered by Jen Brown and Leadership in Action by Keith Murnighan. Might sound boring? Maybe in the hands of less skilled speakers. Both sessions were thoroughly engaging, interesting and really insightful. Even more so, all of the students in the class (there’s 51 of us!) were interacting and asking questions throughout the day. A massive difference to the very quiet lectures that we have in Finland. Because of the constant interaction and thought provoking questions, I think I learnt a lot more than I would normally in such a course. I feel really inspired and privileged to be here. It’s not often one gets to experience the quality of teaching from one of the top business schools in the world.

Three days were spent at the Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO) of Northwestern University. The purpose of this office is to handle the commercialisation of inventions made at the university. The process of commericalisation starts with invention disclosure, where the inventor(s) will submit paperwork which essentially announces the existence of the invention to the University. If the invention is more than just an idea and has some sound data behind it, or a prototype, then it will be considered for patenting. It is important to be able to protect inventions in some way, even if patenting is not an option – and INVO will consider how it can be done. Following this there are several possibilities. The cost of patenting and being able to defend the patent(s) is massive. The cost of a US patent is in the region of $25,000. If you want to get global patent coverage, you can be looking at a ballpark figure of $100,000. One way of recouping the money spent on patenting, and potentially making some more, is to market and license the IP (intellectual property) to companies or other parties who could utilise the invention. Another option is to form a start-up company to develop the invention.

One of the key things I learnt this week, is that the duty of INVO is to make sure that the licensee is obliged to make use of and develop the invention and not just sit on it. Another thing as well, is that the terms of the license must not preclude further academic research on the invention. These form part of the “Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology” which are principles by which many US Universities practice Technology Transfer (TT).

I will continue to work at INVO, the majority of each week. I will learn specifics on how the TT process works, from disclosure to licensing. In particular, I hope to learn more about, and get experience in, the marketing side of things. How INVO actually finds willing companies and how the process of licensing actually happens. I will have some specific projects to work on in INVO. Unfortunately, due to their nature and the fact that I signed a non-disclosure agreement, I cannot write about details or specifics. What I hope to write about here is about the principles of what I have learnt and how it could be applied when I go back home.

Finally, one day a week I will spend with my host lab – Rick Morimoto’s lab.  I was there this week and had a lovely day. The lab members are incredibly friendly and welcoming. I had the chance to listen to a really engaging thesis seminar from one of Rick’s students, Prajwal Ciryam, who has just graduated as an MD PhD, PhD – and yes you can call him Dr. Dr.! While I won’t be doing lab work there, I am using the skills I am learning at INVO to work on business plan for a joint venture between my lab (the Eriksson Lab) and Rick’s lab.

Looking forward to the following week – once I have done my pre-reads for the course on Monday!

Ever since I first heard of the opportunity to go to Northwestern University and the Kellogg School of Management to study business, I have wanted to have the opportunity to take part. Yesterday that dream was realised when I got on the plane at Turku to make the 15hr journey to the USA to live, study and work there for 3 months.

To get to this point has been a bit of a bumpy ride, involving rushing to defend my PhD thesis, while trying to make the many arrangements in order get myself a visa, accommodation etc. I would say it’s been worth the stress to get everything finished and finalised. Currently, I am sitting in the leafy suburb of Evanston in a lovely old colonial style house, on the edge of one of the prettiest university campus’ I have had privilege to be part of.

The purpose of my visit here is to take part in the Kellogg School of Management course: Management for Scientists and Engineers, which runs one day a week through the summer. On the other days, I hope to intern at Northwestern University’s Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO), where the commercialisation of inventions made at the university happens. I will also spend time researching and writing a business plan for a joint project between ÅA and NU. From all of this I hope to acquire some new knowledge and skills in business, finance and entrepreneurship. Above all else, I aim to learn more about the processes behind how universities and inventors can make the most from discoveries made at the university. It is this knowledge I want to bring back to ÅA to help improve the existing processes of technology transfer. After all, there is little point spending lots of money on discovering novel methods or molecules if they cannot be put to good use.