Editor – Page 2 – Foresight Science & Technology

Foresight President and COO Announces His Retirement

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It is with mixed emotions we announce the retirement of Norton Kaplan, our beloved President and COO. His last day with the company is December 29, 2023.

Norton’s outstanding leadership and operational expertise for more than 14 years have had a lasting effect on our organization. We will remember Norton for his many accomplishments, which include developing the Senior Consultant Service Model, growing the Foresight staff into a powerhouse in the industry, and nurturing the founder’s focus on exceptional value for our customers. On behalf of the entire organization, we would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to Norton for his many years of service.

“I am grateful for the many years of trust and support that I have received from the professional staff, the Foresight Board of Directors, and our many dedicated consultants and customers. I am confident that Alyssa, Konstantin, and the team will continue the good work that Foresight is known for. I will miss my work family and wish everyone continued success,” said Norton Kaplan.

As we transition to a new management team, we welcome back Arendt Oak Speser to the Foresight team. Arendt will take on the role of CEO, effective immediately. We are very excited to have him back and look forward to continuing to serve our clients and partners.

-Foresight Science & Technology Board of Directors

Foresight Exhibit at AUTM 2024

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Foresight Science & Technology will be exhibiting at the AUTM Annual Meeting in San Diego on February 18-21, 2024. For those who don’t know, the AUTM Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of Tech Transfer Pros. At this event, attendees will have the opportunity to get inspired, make connections, and learn from some of the greatest leaders in the field. Want to know more? Click here. Also, if you’re attending, be sure to stop by booth 517 to learn more about our Market Assessments and SBIR Services!

TechConnect & SBIR Fall 2023 Conference Exhibit

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Foresight Science & Technology will be exhibiting at the SBIR/STTR Fall Innovation Conference co-located with the 2023 Defense TechConnect Conference in Washington, DC on November 28-29, 2023.

Swing by our Booth 703 to learn about our SBIR/STTR Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) services! If you can’t make it, check out information here or contact Alyssa Belleville at alyssa@foresightst.com.

Foresight Receives USDA SBIR Phase II Award to Research Novel Peptides for Controlling Invasive Ants

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Foresight Science & Technology, Inc. (Foresight) has received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture to further develop a control method for imported fire ants using novel bioactive peptides. The successful USDA Phase I research demonstrated the effectiveness of USDA patented peptides in laboratory experiments. In Phase II, a bait formulation with the peptides as the active ingredient will undergo field tests and further refinement of the bait formulation. The ultimate objective of this research is to develop an effective, environmentally neutral bait formulation for bait stations, primarily for household and small garden applications.

The peptides are covered in US Patent 9,771,393 B2. Bioactive Peptides Having Insecticide Activity, Choi and Vander Meer, issued Sep. 26, 2017; US Patent 10,017,538. Bioactive Peptides Having Insecticide Activity, Choi and Vander Meer, issued Jul. 10, 2018; and PCT WO 2016/0262388 A1 and WO 2018/0086790 A1. The research will be performed under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Foresight and the USDA, Agricultural Research Service.

For further information, please contact Daniel Satinsky, Daniel.satinsky@foresightst.com.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair

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Foresight Science & Technology’s Director of Consulting & Training, Dr. Konstantin Izvolsky, will be a panelist at the upcoming Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair being held at the University at Albany, NY on October 20^th, 2023. At the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair, attendees will have the opportunity to network, pitch their ideas to a seasoned venture panel, and explore how breakthrough discoveries move from the University to the marketplace. More info can be found here.

Startup Funding for Medical and Healthcare Innovations Event

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Foresight Science & Technology’s Director of Consulting & Training, Dr. Konstantin Izvolsky, will be a panelist at the upcoming Medical Development Group of Boston (MDG) Event “Startup Funding for Medical and Healthcare Innovations”. It is being held on October 12, 2023 from 5-7:30pm in a hybrid format, in Lincoln, MA and via Zoom. Attendees will learn about the fundraising process, including what funders and investors look for and how to prepare for your initial pitch as well as learn key considerations for raising funds for their startup. More info can be found here.

New TABA Service Available from Foresight

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Foresight Science & Technology (Foresight), in collaboration with their consulting partners, has developed a dynamic matchmaking service to rapidly scale SBIR/STTR companies’ research and commercialization. To help alleviate time, funding, and resources that SBIR companies may not have, Foresight can be the bridge between SBIR companies and federal laboratories. Under the SBIR Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) program, SBIR companies can work with Foresight as a vendor to accomplish their commercialization objectives. With this TABA service Foresight will provide guidance to the company along the way, identifying resources and facilities, and assisting with any agreements that may be necessary to collaborate with the laboratory. This service is designed to rapidly scale SBIR research and commercialization by tapping into the vast range of resources available within federal research enterprises.

Why choose Foresight?

Foresight has a long history of both SBIR commercialization success and federal technology transfer partnerships. Existing relationships with numerous federal laboratories allow Foresight consultants to quickly identify the right partner for their SBIR clients and can effectively build new networks between the private sector and federal government that have been previously overlooked.

Foresight is seeking SBIR companies with unmet research needs that would like to take advantage of this new, exciting service. We are eager to help you rapidly scale your research and commercialization needs!

TechConnect World & SBIR/STTR Innovation Conference 2023

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Foresight Science & Technology exhibited at the SBIR/STTR Spring Innovation Conference co-located with the 2023 TechConnect World Innovation Conference in Washington, DC on June 19-20, 2023.

Couldn’t make it to the event but are preparing an SBIR proposal that allows for SBIR/STTR Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) funds? Contact Us for a letter of commitment/quote to include in your proposal.

We hope to speak with you soon!

ChatGPT is an Ally in Commercialization Efforts

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Posted May 12, 2023 By: Reda El Alami

On May 11^th Foresight attended the AUTM webinar “Generative AI has arrived : Essential Knowledge for TTOs”. The presenters were Dray McFarlane and Thomas Altman, CEOs from the company Tasio. The presenters provided history on AI, and how AI is constantly evolving. AI can be used in a variety of ways: audio to text, image manipulation, and the main focus of this webinar was ‘writing support’. The focus of this presentation was how to get the most out of AI for TTO’s. Specifically, the following 5 ideas that AI can: understand, create, refine, summarize, and translate. The presenters stated they use ChatGPT, created by OpenAI, and how it can act as an “intern” for you. Grant creation was a major focus in the webinar, and how you can create, critique, and regenerate grants. How you can import examples of successful grants so that the chatbot can use that when creating future grants, it can even use your writing style when creating projects, if you submit examples.

The presenters also mentioned that you can utilize the tool for technology scouting and matching. It can identify emerging technologies for commercialization opportunities, analyze patents and market data, and match technologies to industry needs for collaboration. This is not a fully operational tool, it should be fully operational by the end of 2023. If you have a list of patents, market data, or research papers, GPT can run these on a loop in the background and go through every patent that might be relevant, it can filter keywords, and can score the patents based on how you score them, it can help you commercialize patents. This is possible now, it’s again, not 100% ready, but it’s something to start utilizing. The main takeaway from this webinar was to start using ChatGPT in your workday. It’s an extremely useful tool to help make you more efficient and make daunting tasks more streamlined.

Grant writing is less about the writing than the research

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Posted April 27, 2023 By: Reda El Alami

On April 13th, Foresight Science & Technology attended an AUTM Live webinar called TTOs Can be PIs Too: Competitive Grant Application and Management. It was led by Dr. Eva Garland, Dr. Dana Upton, Jennifer Webster, and Ian McClure. This webinar focused on Federal Grant Opportunities, specifically how to prepare grant proposals to get the results you want. The speakers highlighted how to identify a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), how to collaborate with program officers and project administration offices, as well as how important it was to get supporting documentation to make sure you understand the specific concepts to the grant you are competing for. The speakers have extensive backgrounds in grant applications and funding, and provided great insight on how important it is to forge relationships with the people directly involved in these grants, the funders and people involved in the program. Grant writing is shifting, and it’s important to investigate in more detail, and utilize the resources that are available and listed when reviewing these grants. One can’t simply rely on a generic template to submit bids, in order to win these grants, more time and energy needs to be focused on collaboration to not only win bids, but to gain rapport to help with future bids.