Managing Technical Risk: Understanding Private Sector Decision Making on Early Stage Technology-based Projects

NIST GCR 00-787.

Preface

This report, and the work leading to it, were funded by the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in a contract activated on May 5, 1999, to Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Work under this contract involved a collaboration of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program of the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, the Entrepreneurship Center of the Sloan School of Management of MIT, and faculty members of the Harvard Business School.

The Principal Investigator is Professor Emeritus Lewis M. Branscomb, assisted by BCSIA Fellow Dr. Philip Auerswald; they bore primary responsibility for preparing the body of this report. The MIT team leader was Kenneth Morse, director of the Sloan School Entrepreneurship Center, in collaboration with Matthew Utterback. Dr. Michael Roberts coordinated the Harvard Business School faculty participation and, with MIT colleagues, made available to the project case studies of technical innovations.

The project was conceived by Darin Boville, NIST-ATP Project Director, who designed the goals and strategy for the research and monitored the progress of the work in fulfillment of requirements. During the course of the project, Boville provided valuable guidance, raising insightful questions that prompted further study. He offered many valuable suggestions (including editorial ones) about the structure of the project and the content of contributed papers which contributed significantly to the quality of the work.

We are especially appreciative of the contributions of both scholars and practitioners from the world of business and venture capital, many of whom are authors of papers reproduced in this report, others of whom contributed importantly to the discussion in our workshops. A list of participants follows.

Special thanks are due to supporting staff who supported many facets of the work: Andrew Russell and Beth Mathisen at the Kennedy School (KSG) and Audrey Dobek at Sloan School. Nora O'Neil (KSG) assisted with the financial and contractual arrangements. Albert George (KSG), Barbara Mack (KSG), and Obinna Oyeagoro (Andersen Consulting) assisted with workshops and contributed to our discussions, and Mack wrote the summary of the September workshop. Throughout the process David Hsu (Sloan) provided many comments and insights based on his independent work at MIT. Prof. Benjamin S. Bunney (Yale School of Medicine). Finbarr Livesey (KSG) and Dr. Peter Levin (TechnoVenture Management) provided helpful comments on an early draft of this report. A group of current and recent KSG and MIT students formed a working group during the final months of the project, carrying forward critical discussions of the issues and helping to organize the report. This working group included George, Hsu, Oyeagoro, Livesey and Mack as well as Sinan Aral (KSG), Brandon Mitchell (Sloan) and Robert Margolis (KSG). Our consulting editor for this report was Teresa Lawson, who contributed much to the clarity and readability of this document. As usual we are grateful for her high level of professionalism.

Lewis M. Branscomb
Philip E. Auerswald