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Inflection Points in Emerging Technology

New companies developing emerging technologies — and I’m thinking predominately about technologies with potential for global impact on renewable energy and climate change — are often dominated by scientists and engineers. To be sure, the technology is critical. But, to make a critical difference — to produce societal “inflection points” — these nascent firms and their cool stuff have to be embraced by the marketplace.

Too often, telling the story and creating the buzz — marketing — gets left in the dust. That can delay market adoption. As I told one start-up client overly focused on product development, “You are going to have the best product in the world for XYZ when you go out of business.”

The world of enterprise software and more recently Web 2.0 has evolved product marketing techniques to new heights. (Some would argue that timeline around software puts the buzz way out in front of product development, a different problem.)

The goal of this blog is to explore the world of emerging technologies, especially in the cleantech arena, and help develop and expose the techniques that can drive adoption through the right mix of technology and getting out the story about the technology. Help create and accelerate the inflection points.

Your comments are encouraged.

About the author and guest post editor: Tom Witkin

In 2008, I completed an intriguing ride as VP of Marketing at SiteScape, Inc. (web-based collaboration) that culminated in our acquisition by Novell, Inc. I’ve spent time thinking about what next opportunity will get me to leap out of bed each morning. My background and passion about renewable energy bubbled to the surface.

So, I’m working on ways to add that arena to the marketing work I do as an interim / virtual CMO; to apply what I’ve learned about moving new technologies and products into enterprise markets, leveraging web-based communities, wikis, blogs, social networking and other Web 2.0 devices to build customer demand and product acceptance.

I received an MBA from Stanford Biz School and a AB in Technology and Public Policy from Harvard . . . a long time ago.

The Picture

Yes, in the picture I’m the one flying the glider that’s landing.