Title: Getting on Base with Tech Transfer.
Abstract: While computer graphics researchers regularly hit home runs, with their latest research adopted by Pixar in a matter of months, the software engineering community, much to its frustration, seems stuck bunting. Our community is so desperate for impact that we tend to ignore tech transfer efforts that are not home runs. By doing so, we miss so much. We fail to learn successful strategies, we fail to meet eager-to-collaborate companies, and we fail to gather field-tested feedback. In short, we preclude ourselves from ever hitting home runs in the future.
In this talk, drawing from my extensive involvement in industrial tracks (e.g., co-PC chair at ICSE, FSE, ICSME, ICPC, and SANER) and my ongoing interest in tech transfer I’ll highlight modestly successful tech transfer efforts in the software engineering community. By discussing projects like a feature addition to a popular IDE, a plugin that generated tens of thousands of downloads, and a startup with 5 MUSD in funding we will learn the hard won lessons of these tech transfer pioneers. My hope is that, by learning from their experience, an audience member will produce our community’s first home run.