By: Alyssa Nacewicz, Director of Sales & Marketing
Last week, Foresight sponsored and hosted a booth at the ASTP-Proton Annual Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Among the number of sessions and events I attended while there, some comments from the opening plenary really stood out for me.
One of the speakers, Soren Frandsen (Chairman, Danish National Network of Technology Transfer) said, “In technology transfer trust is a competitive advantage.” This is a powerful statement which we are finding to be extremely true, as building and maintaining relationships is becoming increasingly important in this community. Creating a working relationship where the innovator and industry contact can exchange input and ideas will strengthen your advantage in the market. And as stated by Henrik Jorgen Anderson (Senior R&D manager, Arla Foods Ingredients Group), “The shelf life of knowledge is decreasing”, so having that competitive advantage is important when racing competitors to the market.
At Foresight, we always say “it is never too early to reach out to industry.” Even if you feel that your technology is not mature enough at this time to pursue partnerships, it is important to establish lines of communication and keep them open so as not to lose out on an opportunity for partnering.