3 Co-Developing and Licensing Business Audience

OMB No.: 0925-0046

Expiration Date: 11/30/2022

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Business Audience Personas and Journey Maps Project

Moderator’s Guide: Businesses Seeking to Co-Develop/In-License Technology

Session Information

Date
Time
Moderator
Audience Group
Additional info

Setup

[This guide will be used for remote in-depth interviews with participants who work for businesses that develop and/or license cancer technology from NCI.]

Introduction

Estimated length: 5 minutes

Thank you for participating in this study today. My name is _____, and I am a researcher with the Fors Marsh Group. We are a private research company conducting interviews on behalf of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI is learning more about their business audience to find out how they can best provide support and resources. Today, I’ll be asking you questions to learn about your professional experiences with the process of co-developing and/or in-licensing cancer-related technologies. The entire session will last about 60 minutes.

Here are some things to know before we get started.

• If you do not want to answer any of my questions, you do not have to. Please just say so, and we will move on. And of course, you can stop the interview at any time.

• Some people from my team may be listening in remotely to take notes and record your comments. Your honest and candid feedback will be very valuable, so even though people are listening in, please speak openly about your opinions and experience. There are no wrong responses to the questions I’ll be asking.

• We will be recording audio from the interview. Only Fors Marsh Group staff who are associated with this project will hear or see the recording, and we will not include your name or personal information in the recording or the report. The recordings are a memory aid for me, so I can go back later to recall what happened during each interview. Is it OK with you if we record the interview?

Do you have any questions before we begin?

Section A: Professional Background

Estimated length: 10 minutes

Goal: Understand the participant’s professional background.

1. Can you give me a brief description of your educational and professional background?

   1. Can you tell me about your area of expertise?

   2. How did you first become interested in this area?

   3. How do you go about continuing to grow as a professional?

      1. [If necessary, provide examples.] For example, do you attend professional meetings, conferences, or trainings? Do you subscribe to professional magazines or publications?

      2. What are the professional affiliations that are most common in your field?

2. Can you tell me about your business? [If necessary] What are the types of technologies that you would co-develop or in-license from NCI?

   1. What are the reasons for you to interact with NCI?

   2. What role does in-licensing or co-developing external technologies play in your business strategy?

   3. How does NCI fit into your commercial strategy?

3. What are the day-to-day responsibilities in your current position?

   1. What responsibilities of your job do you find most challenging?

Section B: Co-Developing and Licensing NCI Technology

Estimated length: 15 minutes

Goal: Understand the goals, needs, and behaviors of companies seeking to co-develop and/or in-license technology.

1. Can you describe your process for identifying the types of cancer technology that your business will co-develop and/or in-license?

   1. What steps do you take to research the technology available for co-develop and/or in-license?

   2. After learning about a new technology, how do you decide whether or not to move forward with co-developing or in-licensing that technology?

   3. [If necessary] What sources do you consult to in-license or co-develop technology?

   4. [If necessary] What resources do you use to find a new technology?

2. How did you become aware of technologies available from NCI?

3. For what reasons is your company interested in these kinds of technologies from NCI?

   1. Can you describe the type of partnership your company has with NCI? For example, does your company have a transactional agreement, co-development agreement, license agreement, or Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award?

4. Can you walk me through your steps in collaborating with NCI? [If necessary]

   1. How did you decide which type of partnership agreement to use?

   2. What was your experience like in collaborating with NCI?

5. Did you encounter any challenges during the collaboration process? [If so] What were those challenges?

   1. How did you address those challenges?

   2. Did you get in contact with anyone when you had questions? [If yes] Whom did you contact?

6. What, if anything, did you learn during the collaborating process that you wish you knew at the start of the process?

7. What advice would you give to someone who is considering co-developing and/or in-licensing technology from NCI?

8. Once your agreement was in place, did you need to complete any additional steps in order to complete the process? [If yes] What were they?

9. What has your experience been like with developing the technology?

   1. [If necessary] What has your experience been like with the process of bringing the product to market?

   2. [If necessary] Has it matched your expectations?

Section C: Collaborating and Networking

Estimated length: 10 minutes

Goal: Discuss collaboration and networking activities used to support technology commercialization.

[Moderator:] Now, I’d like to switch gears and talk about any potential partnerships with other organizations as you co-develop and/or license new technology.

1. What are the types of roles of the people you directly collaborate with (or partner with) to support the commercialization of new products?

2. How do you identify potential partners or collaborators?

3. Tell me about any challenges you have encountered when collaborating with others.

4. What tools and resources do you use to collaborate with others?

5. What kinds of networking activities do you participate in to stay up to date in your field?

   1. Are there any conferences in your field that you attend? [If yes] Which ones?

6. How do you learn about these networking opportunities?

Section D: Interactions with the Technology Transfer Center (TTC) website

Estimated length: 15 minutes

Goal: Discuss the use of techtransfer.cancer.gov in collaborating to develop cancer technologies.

1. Next, I’d like you to visit NCI’s Technology Transfer Center (TTC) website. Please go to techtransfer.cancer.gov. Have you visited this website before?

   1. [If Yes] How often do you visit this website?

   2. For what reasons do you visit these web pages? [Moderator note: If the participant has not visited, phrase as, “For what reasons would you visit these web pages?”]

   3. What, if any, resources or information have you looked for when you visited these web pages? [Moderator note: If the participant has not visited, phrase as, “What, if any, resources or information would you look for if you were to visit these web pages?”]

   4. [If Yes] What has your experience been like when looking for information on these web pages?

      1. [If necessary] Were you successful in finding what you were looking for?

2. What content do you find valuable on these web pages?

3. What information is missing, if any, that you would like to see on these web pages?

4. Who, if anyone, do you reach out to when you have questions that are not addressed on these web pages (e.g., NCI program directors, colleagues)?

5. What other resources do you use in addition to or instead of these web pages when you are looking to develop and/or license cancer technologies?

1. [Probe if necessary] What other NCI resources do you use in addition to these web pages?

   1. What other NIH resources do you use?

Section E: Debrief

Estimated length: 5 minutes

Goal: Closing comments, feedback, and debrief from interview.

1. Before we end our session, do you have any other thoughts about how NCI could make the collaboration process better for you and others?

Those are all the questions that I have for you today. We appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about this topic. Your insights and feedback have been very helpful.

Business Audience Personas and Journey Maps: Businesses Co-Developing and Licensing  7