Ok, the title of this blog is a bit cheesy given that this year’s Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards gave the gold medal to a company that produces heart cells by the billions. I couldn’t resist. The annual
awards seek out “breakthrough” technological achievements in everything from medicine to consumer electronics.
If you’re a university researcher, independent inventor, non-profit, or entrepreneur, you can apply, but the categories are by technology type not by the size of the business, so you might find yourself going head to head with IBM’s Watson supercomputer, which won the bronze this year, or E Ink Holdings Inc. who pioneered the electronic paper technology used in Amazon’s Kindle. This year they won for Triton, which delivers color images by means of an ultra-thin filter over its black and white E-Ink display.
But, back to the heart-warming (sorry!) story of
Cellular Dynamics International, the Wisconsin-based company that won first place. The founder,
Dr. James Thomson, a molecular biologist at the University of Wisconsin, is known for his discovery that you could isolate stem cells from human embryos AND then later for his discovery that mature human skin cells could be turned into induced pluripotent stem cells (
IPS cells). It is his IPS technology that enabled him to make huge quantities of genetically identical, high-quality heart cells. His cells are being used in research labs and in drug companies to develop drugs and test for side effects. This scientist turned entrepreneur is trying to speed up the drug development process as well as bring down the cost—both would be huge.
Just because WSJ anoints a company as a technology innovation winner doesn’t mean that company will actually live up to its new reputation as an innovator and do what it said it would do in its application. At least that’s what WSJ claims. But smart entrepreneurs have to know when to pivot their business model so they can grow the company. Take the
case of Sunnyvale CA company Liquid Robotics, which was the category winner in robotics in 2010. The company had developed the Wave Glider, which is an unmanned seagoing platform propelled by ocean waves and designed to gather data on such things as pipelines and oil leaks. It moves by converting wave motion into forward thrust, so theoretically you have unlimited power with no batteries or engines. Originally the company intended to manufacture and sell these robotic floating platforms; however, after raising a $22 million round in June of this year, they have now decided to sell the data the robot collects rather than the robot itself.
I don’t see Liquid Robotics’ pivot as a negative. They still can lay claim to having developed a very cool technology that solves a real problem. They just chose to take advantage of the super margins on selling data, which is probably a very smart move. An emerging company with a breakthrough technology has to focus on survival, which means finding a way to generate revenues while you continue to develop the technology. Liquid Robotics has a very interesting value proposition. I believe they'll demonstrate that they certainly deserved the award that WSJ gave them.
