Researcher

Together we define the opportunities that lie in the project. Among other things, we try to answer the following questions:

• What are you working on that you find interesting?
• What questions and hypotheses are you working on?
• What parts / aspects of your work should we focus on?

In this phase, we connect you with a business developer or an innovation leader who becomes your primary contacts in the process.

Once we have identified an idea or a project, we map the potential together. The assessments will result in a strategy for the way forward. Among other things, we work to find out the following conditions:

• What are the risk factors in the project? This can be revealed through initial feedback from potential users, partners and customers.
• What already exists? The project must be evaluated against other solutions in the market.
• What is the benefit to society? Does the idea have commercial potential?

If this phase has a positive result, we give a recommendation to owner organizations and move on to look at possible financing options. We also open up opportunities to involve other social actors.

We continue to work to get the solution, product or service implemented. This will often require us to fund a project work to improve, test or verify the invention. Relevant announcements can be the Milestone Scheme and verification funds from the Research Council of Norway (NFR). We normally succeed with 30 to 50% of our NFR applications.

Such applications may require both scientific and commercial clarifications, such as patent investigations and contact with the end user, for large-scale pilot testing with industry players and license negotiations. These are services that can be included in the project.

When the funding is in place, when the application is approved, we work together with any revisions or other adjustments in accordance with requirements from the Research Council of Norway. We set up contracts, take responsibility for reporting and administrative work, as well as budget and finances.

We ensure progress according to plans and strategy. To ensure that we stay focused on both scientific work and business development, we put together a tailored team that supports you throughout the process. In this phase, tasks related to commercialization will also be central: customer contact, financial calculations, agreements, communication to target groups and the media.

When the project has been mapped and studied at VIS, it can be transferred to external parties. By that we mean that the service, technology or product can be sold to one or more parties through a license agreement. It can also mean that we establish a start-up company with the goal of bringing the service, technology or product to market. A commercial gain from the project after transfer will follow the Employee Inventors Act (Arbeidstakeroppfinnerloven).

When a license agreement has been entered into, VIS follows up the agreement and checks that the points are complied with by the industry party. When founding a start-up company, we help the company up and forward through our programs for entrepreneurs.