Repo and the Store

Hello u.osu.edu fans.  How’ve ya been?  How’ve I been- busy!  Its been nuts as usual in the land of commercialization and the fall storm is headed our way.  This means students, events, techs, startups, deals oh my.  And lots of things are going on.  All of which is mostly good.

I figure I should note something on here’s the state of the pipeline for Dan, as of 8/6/2015?  Well the pipeline is still about 60% healthcare related.  Lotta potential and more players on the medical side of the IP dance.  But the other side, everything non-medical is forming up as well.

We in a time where companies we helped kick out 1-2 years ago are going thru their valley of death as well.  They’re being tested beyond the MVP, they’ve netted some capital, and rolling into momentum, getting customers, hearing customers and pivoting via customers wants and needs.  This is life for a startup, you live and die by customer/market adoption.  These companies are especially in tune for the moment, they are max warp!!

On my wall is the board.  My board dictates- deals (things to be), shaping (things that need to tell their story better), parked (things that are stuck for one reason or another), proto (things being made), playground (things that are bonus to other things but notable efforts), people (people in play or in union with me), vault (things that can go into the vault).

What is the software vault anyways?

When I arrived at Ohio State in 2011, the university didn’t do so much with software.  It was largely kinda ignored or well complicated to view from an IP perspective.  Its not typically patented, so it has that notion of no value, though as a software person, I believe otherwise.  Luckily the university leadership felt the same way and was open to software IP minded thinking.  As such we pondered up some big ideas to help our software IP strategy at Ohio State.  Two main ideas surfaced- 1, storage/accounting of software IP, 2, a store to sell it.

The Repo

The first project was to build our own university GitHub, a place where programmers keep their code.  Its important for the university to have its own repository for what it creates.  This was initially a bit of daunting project, but we at TCO we’re alone- other departments on campus also had eyes on this idea as well.  A central repo for all faculty and staff at the university could address alot of issues- organization, collaboration, IP protection, and more.  One of the key things I kept seeing was that at many times (and likely still true today) there are 4 or more different parties on campus all building the same wheel at the same time with no idea either person exists.  You could say, so what.  But from an efficiency stand point, thats kind crazy.  Imagine how much money we could save if we used the first wheel someone made, tweaked it of course vs $$$ for another wheel that is the same wheel.  The repo addresses this idea.  It also is FREE for faculty, staff, departments.  It gives us visibility, on who’s making what, and we can see more .  It took about 9 months or more to realize but its there and its growth and adoption rate is increasing every day.  code.osu.edu go check it out!

The Store

With the repo in place the next effort TCO took on was the the store, we call it the Buckeye Software Vault.  Early on in 2011-2012 we really dug deep into what software we had at the university in terms of IP.  Software believe it or not, is everywhere.  And from an intellectual property point of view its really everywhere.  Take u.osu.edu for example, that was created by employees of the university, in a sense it is university IP.  Now it doesn’t mean we can sell it right away nor does it mean it should be sold, but if we said is u.osu.edu a thing, we’d all agree it is, if we said, does it have merit or matter, again we’d agree, if we said does it have value for users, we’d agree there, if we said was it designed, architected with a direction or focus in mind, again, agree.  Now it does sit on open source however and a wordpress framework but I would bet you without a doubt that another university would likely find it useful to leverage in their own institution,and as such that itself is licensing and hence commercialization.  We often view commercialization with an intent to profit, and yes thats ideal but not always the case.  Free academic use licensing happens all the time- by design really. You want to share the things you’ve made, especially with your colleagues and academic peers.  But you also want clarity in that sharing- meaning they too will uphold your vision of what that is, TCO helps you convey that vision via terms and makes them essentially part of the deal.

Ok so back to the store.  Again there is alot of software things at the university that fall in between being something that can stand on its own and deliver licensing value and or does not equate the effort of a full on startup wrapped around it.  Normally this kind of IP is not even recognized as IP- which to me is a mistake. Code is not always pretty either, it doesn’t always have an interface, it doesn’t always tell you a story of what it is, but an algorithm to show you how safely land on Mars to the interface of an APP to the workflow that saves you 40 hours of labor doing something manually, all has value.  The question is more so do you believe it has value and are you willing to ask to the sale?   What if there was another way?   What if we had a vending machine of stuff people could view and buy or take for free- the store is that front.  Its a market place of software, content related IP the university has made.

Its really about empowerment as well.  We empower the university to monetize what it thinks may or may not be monetizable.  This is the heart of chance and the web 2.0 approach to the internet today.  You have to try.  And creating software is happening everywhere.  A few years ago the OCIO did a survey and found some 660 programmers on campus across the 15 colleges, departments, units etc.  That number didn’t include grad students i figure.  We’re likely up to some 1500+ people that every day make something in code.

The store front is to showcase those creations in one unified front.  And its purpose is to simple gather, and show- not all of it is for sale at a price, much of it is free.  The store has an added bonus in that its also a test area.  We can see what the traction is for something and then if it goes well thats a solid indicator that the university should really think about doubling down on that idea and doing more, stretching the potential return back to the creators, department and or college unit.

Now it is growing, we shooting for 5-15 new things in the store every quarter and I hope for that to occur even faster.  It should really given that software is everywhere here.  U.OSU.EDU should be “package” on there as well really, it should state the intent of what this site is all about, and of course be sold for X determined by the department that created if they so choose, or be free and provide other universities our IP/design shared.

Like many university efforts, the store is an “effort” it will change in time but its premise remains the same, there is IP all around us.  IP is a door to sponsored research, its a means of communicating value, creating alignment, championing ideas and celebrating our creations.  Free or for sale, thats the particulars we ramble into every day.  Licensed to a big company, or the basis of a future company to be- all possible, even your own company the university helps you make- yep even that too.  A huge range of possibility is before us all.  Of course with limitations but doable.

I’m proud of the Repo and the Store efforts.  Two big projects that many felt we’re impossible, but the university is a canvas of opportunity.  Big ideas can happen when people rally around them and make them real.  Its one of the things that attracts me most to the university- its appetite for possibility is endless.  Major props to all those at Arts & Sciences Tech, OCIO, ODEE, B&F, Communications and all the supportive units that chimed in on these “dude yer crazy” ideas and helped them be realized.  And mad props to the core TCO team that enabled the breathing room to go for it.  Time will tell along with anything but so far so good.

 

 

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