279.31 sec. 001 - Deep Tech Commercialization Strategies (Fall 2025)
Instructor: Bowman Heiden
Instructor: Matthew Rappaport (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 3
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
M 6:00 PM - 9:29 PM
Location: Cheit C230
From August 18, 2025
To November 25, 2025
Course End: November 25, 2025
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 16
As of: 04/05 07:13 AM
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course explores deep technology commercialization at the interface of business, technology, and intellectual property. Students will work in interdisciplinary teams on real-world, deep tech commercialization projects from leading research institutions and startups. Using the concepts taught in the course, student-led teams will conduct technology and patent analyses, explore the competitive technology landscape, and uncover market entry opportunities to assess the commercial potential of the technology. This is an incredible opportunity to gain real-world experience while learning the fundamentals of deep tech commercialization.
This course is the first of an experiential and two-semester sequence that gives students the ability to assess any deep technology or science commercialization opportunity. The first semester focuses on technology and customer discovery, how to generate and identify the most promising business opportunities from a deep tech breakthrough, and licensing strategies; the second focuses on business models, technology strategies, entrepreneurial finance, intellectual property, and the strategic opportunities that arise in the clever management of these challenges.
The course will be based upon a significant collaborative project that will require the application of course concepts and frameworks, through the development and recommendation of a commercialization strategy for a technology from Lawrence Berkeley National Labs or other collaboration partners.
J.D. applications will be due April 11. Students will be notified by April 21 if they have been admitted to the course. LLM applications will be due July 15, with a response by August 1. After these deadlines pass, late applications will be considered on a rolling basis as space permits. Please use the following link to apply (https://forms.gle/u4jbxCVo7pSjmqEk7).
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. Expose students to the strategic intersection of technology, business, and intellectual property (IP) that is inherent to commercializing deep tech innovations.
2. Learn frameworks to identify and analyze the key technology and IP assets that make up the foundational building blocks of a deep tech innovation.
3. Apply an interdisciplinary toolset to support the process of technology capture, positioning, and commercialization by mapping and analyzing competitive technology positions, market positions, and IP-based control positions.
4. Evaluate and prioritize commercial opportunities by identifying potential customer value propositions, business models, and revenues.
5. Hone communication and leadership skills through customer discovery, presenting to peers and industry professionals, and providing recommendations (both positive and negative) to project team leaders throughout the course.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will learn real-world strategies to analyze deep technology innovations from the perspective of technology, IP, and commercialization. Students will learn how to professionally interact with a variety of people from potential customers to tech transfer officers, and leading researchers. They will have gained practical experience applying a unique interdisciplinary toolset to assess the potential to commercialize deep tech innovations.
Our program focuses heavily on human interaction, networking, and communication with outside experts, businesses, and interdisciplinary team members. Students will gain experience working in interdisciplinary teams and the product of the teamwork will be graded. We believe that building relationships with external partners and working in interdisciplinary teams are soft skills that are essential for navigating modern workplaces.
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Matthew Rappaport is the General Partner of Future Frontier Capital (FFC), a pre-seed, frontier technology venture capital fund. Prior to FFC, in 2004 Matthew co-founded IP Checkups, Inc., an intellectual property strategy and software firm where he managed hundreds of innovation projects for early-stage start-ups and large corporations.
Matthew is on the faculty at the Fung Institute of Engineering Leadership at UC Berkeley and Co-founder-director for the Deep TechInnovation Lab at the Haas School of Business. He has mentored and taught hundreds of graduate students from Berkeley Law, Haas School of Business, and the Fung Institute on real-world technology commercialization projects in collaboration with startups, corporate innovation departments, and research labs including Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.
Dr. Bowman Heiden is the Executive Director of the Tusher Strategic Initiative for Technology Leadership at UC-Berkeley and co-chair of the Technology, Innovation, and Intellectual Property program at the Classical Liberal Institute at the NYU School of Law. He is also the Director of the Center for Intellectual Property (CIP) at University of Gothenburg. Dr. Heiden was recently a member of the European Commission Expert Group on Standard Essential Patents.
Dr. Heiden is the co-founder of the Berkeley Deep Tech Innovation Lab, the Dynamic Competition Initiative, ICM Global, and Increasing Diversity in Innovation. Over the past fifteen years, Dr. Heiden has also managed over 150 innovation projects with industry, university research institutes, healthcare providers, and start-up ventures.
Dr. Heiden holds degrees in engineering, technology management, and economics, and his research is at the interdisciplinary interface of economics, law, and innovation, in particular, intellectual property, innovation economics, and competition policy in knowledge-intensive sectors. Before turning his focus to the fields of innovation strategy and policy, Dr. Heiden played professional basketball in a number of European countries. This is why he is so tall.
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Requirements Satisfaction:
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Exam Notes: (SP) Presentations that count for a significant portion of the grade
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Intellectual Property and Technology Law
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