The Road to Technology Commercialization and Sales

There are lots of tech transfer success stories, but there's one getting lots of media attention today. Mr. Kevin Kostner's company attained the patent rights to his centrifuge technology product, for which BP just signed a letter of intent, over 15 years ago and spent $20 million developing it, only to finally sell it now. This is an inspiration to any inventors out there who may be frustrated with the sometimes long and complex timeline of technology transfer and commercialization. Here's how it went down, from the Ocean Therapy Solutions webpage:

In 1993 Kevin procured a technology transfer from the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory for a centrifugal oil-water separator. He founded Costner Industries (CINC) and committed the next 15 years, and over $20 million toward research and development, advocacy and outreach on behalf of a rugged, compact portable device that would serve as a first line of defense in oil spill clean up and recovery.

Here's a recent article on the company's latest breaking news item.

Discover Magazine's 80 Beats Blog:

BP to Kevin Costner: We’ll Take 32 of Your Oil Clean-up Machines

WaterworldCan Kevin Costner’s centrifuge–a device to separate oil from water at up to 200 gallons per minute–clean up the Deep Horizon spill? We reported on Costner’s clean-up gadget back in May when he convinced the Coast Guard and BP to test his technology, and now comes news that BP has ordered 32 of Costner’s devices to try out in the Gulf.

It sure makes for easy reporting; Costner’s handsome mug is certainly more appealing than oil-soaked sea life. But what are the actual chances that the actor’s device will work? Costner seems to recognize how implausible it all sounds:

"It may seem an unlikely scenario that I am the one delivering this technology in this moment in time," Kevin Costner said (see ABC video below) in a congressional committee meeting. "But from where I’m sitting, it’s equally inconceivable that these machines are not already in place." [CNN]

As described in last week’s testimony before the House Committee on Science and Technology, Costner bought the patent for the basic technology behind his centrifuge 15 years ago and has since spent $20 million to develop it with the company he founded, Ocean Therapy Solutions. BP will test the V20 model, a version that has about a five square foot base, weighs around 4,500 lbs, and costs (according to The Los Angeles Times) $500,000.