Lance Leverette

Lance Leverette is an innovation management consultant working to bridge the gap between science and the market. His services include coaching, teaching, and consulting based on a market focused methodology that guides innovators from idea to implementation.

For the last four years he has developed and applied these methods learned working for companies in the US and the UK toward innovation coming from academia and tech centers across Europe. This includes European Union funded projects, working with SME’s and tech centers to pursue new markets, and working with start-up companies on how to position their technologies. He has several published market reports and works across a variety of industries.

Lance has worked in strategic marketing and market analysis for leading developers and distributers of precision industrial products in the United States including AJ Oster (a division of Global Brass and Copper with sister company Olin Brass), Barnes Aerospace (an aerospace original equipment manufacturer), and Zeus Industrial Products (a developer of high performance polymer products). At Zeus he led in the development of the market entry strategy of their newly developed PTFE electrospun nanofiber line for industrial applications, market research for high performance polymer applications, as well as conducting numerous business cases for medical device components.

The Divide between Innovation and Implementation: Why does the ‘Valley of Death’ claim so many great ideas?

This presentation will firstly focus on the obstacles facing new innovation. As innovation is most often science and technology based, stemming from academia and entrepreneurs to fill a need in society and the economy; it often fails to understand the language and behavior of business. Profit margins, market growth, supply chains, and merger and acquisition activity are often overlooked when nurturing an idea, creating a prototype, or receiving a grant. This lack of understanding can lead an idea toward failure in achieving market adoption.

Further, government and government funded innovation schemes rightfully focus on creating a positive societal, economic, and environmental impact without providing the necessary guidance or resources to innovators to make the jump from lab to customer.

How to overcome what is often referred to as the ‘Valley of Death’ where an innovation needs to survive the gap between science and the market, therefore requires scientists and entrepreneurs to think differently and to spend time and resources on understanding what the market requires.

We believe that this presentation will therefore introduce the audience to how to create the pillars to a bridge that can overcome this gap: market research. The process and importance of finding, grabbing, and analyzing information from end-users, business, investors, competitors, and potential partners to understand what is needed and how to reach the goal of success.