Emerging Technologies — Our intent in TCS is to highlight the new technologies in each sector which have a high probability of revolutionary impact. The goal is to appreciate (a) the essential advance the researchers are pursuing, and (b) some of the hoped for performance consequences of research success. If you have particular knowledge of, or interest in, an emerging technology not explicitly mentioned in class, please feel free to bring this to bear through your projects and, in general, to share anything worthwhile with us and classmates.

Business Implications — As new technological possibilities emerge, there are often several market or business implications. For example, (1) traditional business practices may become more efficient with the new technology, allowing the same things to be done with considerably less time or money. Alternatively, the new technology may (2) allow a totally new way to solve the same or similar overall business problem. Or, the emerging technology may (3) trigger an entirely novel product or service category, solving problems previously untouchable or unrealized. Especially in these latter two cases, the nature of an industry, or the relationships between suppliers and customers in a value chain, may transform dramatically, leading to (4) new collateral business opportunities.

Seek Creative New Ideas — As you look at a wide range of emerging technologies in the Computing and Logic sector, and later in the Biotechnology, Communications and Developing Nations sectors, you should think, brainstorm, speculate, and even wildly guess about potential business implications, from the more efficient through novel or collateral (i.e. numbers 1-4 above). We hope that joint teams from MIT and Harvard are very well-suited for this task. You are encouraged to speak to anyone you like — inside the class or beyond — about emerging technologies, business idea possibilities, market data, and so forth.

Bolder is Better — Generally speaking, the bolder or more dramatic the idea you think up and present, or the larger the potential market consequences, the more appealing from the perspective of our class. Ultimately, of course, any serious new venture team and their proposal would endure repeated and deep reality-checks, forcing the team to sharpen their assumptions and confirm the appeal of their effort. For our short Business Briefs, however, we necessarily dispense with most of these crucial iterative forces. Even for your Final Project, while our expectations are higher, we still favor bold new venture opportunities over something mundane. By the same token, if you have identified a focused, realistic opportunity that appears modest in comparison to something really crazy, we also encourage you. We can be equally impressed with boldness or practicality, but you must at least be one or the other, or, in the best case, both!

Brainstorming Potential Opportunities — Each emerging technology area is fruitful territory for multiple business opportunities. You should let your imagination reign free in order to speculate thoroughly about the most interesting of these implications. As just one example, let us take the specific case of Printed Logic. There are at least five or six categories of businesses one might propose grounded in this interesting emerging technology:

1. Underlying Materials and Fabrication Methods — Be the developer and supplier of printable electronic ink, key solvents, substrates and other underlying materials used by device fabricators to make systems.
2. Tools and Capital Goods for Manufacturing — Be the manufacturer and supplier of the ink jet systems and printing subsystems, deposition schemes, and other capital equipment that device fabricators need to make systems.
3. Intellectual Property Designs and Subcomponents — Be the premier designer and licensor of devices, subsystems, and subcomponent designs for purchase, system integration, and fabrication by others.
4. Mass Fabrication Outsourcer — Be the preferred provider of high volume fabrication services house for integrators or IP sources.
5. Integrated Devices and Systems — Be the integrator of subsystems and IP designs into end-products and systems. For example, printed logic might enable very inexpensive webpads, displays and logic cheaply printed on a plastic substrate. Or, printed logic might enable disposable digital labels as advertising on beer bottles or T posters.
6. High Level Applications — Be the premier provider of new, maybe "killer" applications built on top of new types of integrated end-products and systems.

When you pick your favorite emerging technology area, there will be a similar hierarchy of business categories, loosely mapped either (a) to the potential or actual value chain in the industry, or (b) to the emerging layers of product architecture, or both. And within each of these categories are numerous possible new venture product and/or service proposals.

If you’re stuck, perhaps with "writer’s block", please contact us or your fellow classmates. We are totally committed to helping you appreciate the emerging technologies and hone in on the most interesting possible business ideas.