{"id":33452,"date":"2016-03-14T07:20:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T06:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=33452"},"modified":"2016-03-11T13:54:54","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T12:54:54","slug":"hunting-for-untapped-innovation-a-bio-based-materials-and-chemicals-case-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/hunting-for-untapped-innovation-a-bio-based-materials-and-chemicals-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting for Untapped Innovation: A Bio-based Materials and Chemicals Case Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Successful partnership strategy is a key ingredient for capitalizing on emerging technologies and bringing about transformative long term innovations. However, missteps when striking external relationships can be incredibly costly, draining both cash and precious resources. Perhaps nowhere is this double-edged sword dynamic more apparent than in the minefield of emerging technology start-ups, where statistics show that only 7% to 10% of such entities succeed, but the hidden gems that exist can be game-changing differentiators. However, data can make this process more predictable.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lux Research methodology of evaluating start-ups has been shown to identify and predict successful companies at rates as high as 50%. This assessment, \u201cMeasuring and Quantifying Success in Innovation\u201d, also highlighted some of the underlying key factors that translated into measurably higher rates of success, including strong management team, momentum, barriers to growth, and partnership score, at 4x, 2.5x, 3x, and 2x, respectively.<\/p>\n

But knowing which factors correlate with higher rates of success isn\u2019t enough on its own, as an ever-changing competitive landscape and nuances of individual companies and markets needs to be accounted for as well. One way to apply the Lux methodology is to identify companies that may have underlying value, but aren\u2019t already success stories. Specifically, we first screened for companies with average or below average (scores of 3 or less on a 1 to 5 scale) management team, partnership, momentum, and\/or barriers-to-growth Scorecard values. From there we performed a critical review of how each of these companies plays in today\u2019s environment, assessing for sustainable value proposition, current and future engagement opportunities, differentiation to enable market adoption, and opportunities to improve these Scorecard success indicators.<\/p>\n

The bio-based materials and chemicals (BBMC) landscape is particularly ripe for employment of such a hunting for untapped innovation assessment. This space is increasingly crowded as groups continue to scale and put out commercial products. Add to that low natural gas and crude oil prices, and finding promising technologies and companies becomes increasingly difficult. Application of this methodology resulted in a list of eight innovative BBMC companies to watch for: Altranex (lubricants), Itaconix (polyitaconic acid), Liquid Light (MEG), Nucelis (squalene), P2 Science (azelaic acid), Spero Energy (DHE and DMPP), Trelys (amino acids), and United Catalyst (cellulosic biomass pretreatment). Analyzing these eight start-ups using the Lux Innovation Grid (see figure below) reveals tight clustering around the midpoint, indicative of the potential movement our \u201chunting\u201d assessment was predicated upon. Specifically:<\/p>\n