Argonne National Laboratory MBA Summer Internship

Argonne National Laboratory is offering a summer internship for MBA students to gain practical experience in the business side of research, development, and commercialization. This internship will be of interest to students focusing on marketing, venturing or investing in the technology arena.

This program will provide experience in the identification, management, and nurturing of intellectual property in the Argonne research setting and the development of strategies for its transfer into the commercial arena. The strategies involve such decisions as whether a technology is best suited for a venture startup or a licensing play.

The goal of the MBA internship program is to augment the business assessment and strategy component of Argonne’s technology transfer effort. The intern program focuses on marketable technologies developed by Argonne scientists and engineers and provides experience in a working environment with technical staff addressing and solving real problems in transfer of technology to commercial markets.

About the Laboratory

Argonne, as one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s multidisciplinary research laboratories thrives by having top-notch scientists utilizing leading-edge science to solve important energy, environment, and security problems for the nation. While much of the research involves developing a fundamental understanding of science, Argonne research and development results in 30-50 patents each year and more than 100 new inventions to be evaluated for commercial potential.

Argonne seeks to enhance its technology transfer success by having MBA candidates assist in the evaluation and business opportunity analysis and development of viable business strategies for a few select technologies with high commercial potential.

About the Technology Transfer Division

A key element of Argonne’s mission is the transfer of technology to industry to improve the nation’s economic competitiveness and to provide benefits of new technology to the public. The Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) is responsible for pursuit of commercial applications for Argonne’s intellectual property from invention disclosure to commercialization. A key function is identification of markets and characterization of the business potential of patented and copyrighted technologies, including development of strategies for licensing and new business development. OTT has been central to the launch of new business start-ups based on Argonne technology over the past several years.

The Internship

The Laboratory’s summer internship is founded on the premise that accurate assessment of a technology’s commercial potential and effective business strategy development is critical to commercial use. By matching experienced scientists and engineers with future business leaders to help realize this vision, a higher degree of market impact will result.

In return, the MBA student will gain unique experience in the business side of high-technology research with a focus on intellectual property evaluation, technology business potential assessment, and the development of the commercialization strategy. The intern may work with two or more technologies from an institutional portfolio with considerable diversity — from uncharacterized concepts with unknown potential to demonstrated technologies with early-stage market potential. Depending on the stage of the assignments, the experience will involve market analysis and if late-stage, involve participation in licensing or start-up strategy and negotiation development. The specific assignments will depend on the needs of the Laboratory and the experience of the intern.

The internship is not a classroom case-study scenario. It is a working environment with exposure to the challenges of distilling hard facts and determining value in an environment that often has limited resources, conflicting information, diverse personalities, and varying views on the correct strategy. The exposure to the challenges of moving promising technologies from the research environment to the marketplace provides valuable experience to students interested in the entrepreneurial, technology marketing, venturing, and investing arenas.

The internship will focus on technologies that may involve chemical processes, new materials, software, or biotech products, depending on the portfolio status at the time of the internship:

• The technologies may range from very early stage, such as unproven conceptual innovations, to late-stage developments. Early to mid-stage technologies may not have an existing product analog from which to develop competitive information. A typical deliverable for an early- to mid-stage technology will be to identify potential markets (or in some cases, products) that are a good fit for the technology and a path to the market.
• Some technologies may be late-stage, with a quantified understanding of the market. The need in this instance may be for the development of a business case or the identification of licensing candidates.

The general process involves the following steps:

• Meet with the scientists to understand the technology and determine the details that help identify the value proposition.
• Determine the key competitive parameters to characterize the market space for this technology.
• Review competing technologies and assist in development of the intellectual property portfolio.
• Conduct the market research through industry reports, industry contacts, etc.
• Use the combination of the above to determine if there is an attractive commercialization scenario (licensing, start-up, etc.) for the technology.
• Build the business case presentation for the internal staff, and possibly external audiences comprising licensees or investors.

The final deliverable for each technology will be a presentation in "case study" format that documents the above diligences and results. A mid-internship report will also be prepared.

Applicants for this internship should have completed one year of their MBA program and have prior industry experience. A technical background is preferred.

Generally, the operating environment will be relatively unstructured, requiring an individual with initiative who can operate independently. The OTT staff will provide mentoring and guidance and serve as resources.

Program Specifics

Duration: Three months during the summer (June-Sept.) 2008

Eligibility: An undergraduate degree in business, science, or engineering with experience in technology or applications is highly desirable. All applicants must be enrolled in a university MBA program and have completed at least the equivalent of one full year in the program. Previous business experience is required. Applicants must be U.S. citizens.

Program Size: One internship will be awarded for the 2008 summer term.

Contact Information

To submit a resume, please send to the following:

Stephen Ban
Office of Technology Transfer
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue, OTT/201
Argonne, Illinois 60439
E-mail: sdban@anl.gov