23rd September, 2021

Over the course of this fellowship, my team and I have the pleasure of engaging with multiple industrial partners whom we’ve identified as possible end users of the research outputs we’re delivering. That’s a mouthful. Put simply, our industrial partners each have a unique itch to scratch. The common ointment (we think) is the technology we’re developing in this fellowship-funded research programme. And as exciting as that industry engagement is, it can also be revealing to the point of being paralyzing.

On several occasions now, I’ve updated some of our partners on tech developments, new ideas, and routes forward that we think will serve them, the end user, well. That hasn’t always played out. What becomes insightful in such conversations is that there are many ideas developed in the industrial setting that are blisteringly brilliant but don’t ever see the ‘light’ of the publishing day. These ideas have been developed and/or discarded in an environment driven by business, not grants or citations. Quite rightly, many a cutting edge solution is held secretly in order to be competitive. Therefore, having the privilege to openly engage with such end users about how new or novel or useful or game-changing your tech really is can take an fledgling idea from good to great.

I often go into such conversations in academic autopilot. I’m there to sell what we’ve done and how good the idea is. I might naively define impact in terms of a publication or two, but that level of thinking is really quite small. Trying to build my own business outside of academia has also shone a light on that. But back to conversations with end users, there are scarce few alternatives to tempering your ego and understanding the real value of your idea than talking to those who would apply your technology.

There is a caveat to this. Like Henry Ford said in reference to his invention of the car:

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Part of your challenge, beyond enduring the tough conversations with the end users who will tell you straight what they are and are not excited by, you may also find yourself figuring out how to translate your idea into terms that sit more familiarly with that end user’s current practice. You might have something as revolutionary as a car…but you may need to describe it with any automotive jargon…and analogize it as a ‘faster horse’.

Consider how you can test the proposed impact of your idea. Who can you speak to in order to get to the heart of what would truly be impactful?

If you have a question for Marc, upload an audio recording for it to be featured on a later Q&A episode!