(398d) Particle ALD – Academic Invention to Commercial Development

This paper will describe the path from the discovery that fine primary fine particles could be functionalized with conformal and pinhole-free nano-coatings to the commercial development of the Particle Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) process. Significant events include establishing the intellectual property, the company management, the funding, the scientific core, and the targeted markets. This is the continuing story of ?boot-strapping?, conservative management, no layoffs, no defections, and a seemingly bright future ahead for an 8 yr old university spinoff in the black as it navigates through a second economic downturn.

Faculty and their students are in the unique position of being able to invent platform technologies through the basic research that they carry out. Likewise, many Ph.D. students are looking for entrepreneurial opportunities where they can extend their graduate research into self-directed careers. Together, faculty members and their entrepreneurial students are needed to be ?thought leaders? for startups and related business issues for creating jobs and to support the U.S economy in addition to publishing papers.

Critical issues for faculty that need to be dealt with include conflict of interest, time management, an understanding of the business world, and continuing to be professorial and academic. The most important decisions for the company revolve around selection of the management team, when to seek venture funding/creating investor stakeholder value, and which markets to target. Additionally, economic considerations are critical as no product/process will be successful unless it's the lowest cost option on the basis of cost/performance for the customer.