Who are you?

Qi3 is a specialist service, providing sales, marketing and business development support to technology enterprises and government.

What makes you different?

We are all experienced managers, with an enthusiastic approach to our work. We value action and commercial values alongside our technical/scientific backgrounds.

Companies we have worked with have found our approach refreshing and oriented towards implementation rather than advice. We work as part of your team, rather than as dispassionate consultants. That's why we call our key services "VACME - Value Added Commercial Management with Enthusiasm".

What skills and competences do you offer?

Our competences are grounded in the interfaces between technology and marketing. We are experienced in:

• Sales
• Product marketing
• Marketing communications
• Strategic marketing and business development
• General management

Most of our experiences are in international technology based business-to-business markets and we often use the following experiences in our work:

• Defining and creating new businesses
• Developing business plans and objectives (and seeing them through)
• Pioneer product/service sales
• Export sales and marketing, distribution channel development and management
• Defining new products and services in collaboration with technical teams
• Managing technology developments
• Evaluating the market potential for a new technology
• Sourcing suitable technologies from the public sector.
• "Technology Translation" - enabling private sector companies to understand and absorb technologies developed in public sector programmes.
• Arranging technology licenses (as purchaser or vendor)

What can you do for me?

We work closely with you and fill in the gaps in the skills/resources base in your commercial organisation. We see ourselves as value-adding team players.

What's your working style?

We work as an integral part of your team. We operate separate email addresses, telephone numbers and carry different business cards when representing you to your customers.

Who are your competitors?

There are not many companies working in a "sales and marketing" mode. We tend to work with traditional consultancies as colleagues. If you have considered a traditional consultancy, try the Qi3 model - it's different!

Who do you already work for?

Here is a selection of our recent clients:

• Growth enterprises
• Cambridge Flat Panel Display "CamFPD" - Optics and Displays - see case study for "VACME"
• Zeeko - Optical manufacturing - see case study for "VACME"
• Omnifit - Fluidics for biotechnology and pharmaceuticals
• 42 Technology - Engineering design services
• Xcam - X-ray CCD cameras

Larger high-tech corporations
This is generally confidential growth support work for diversified high technology corporations. Some typical assignments have included:

• Technology sourcing
• New Enterprise creation
• Development and implementation of a growth strategy
• Repositioning high-tech brands

Public sector

• Science and Technology Facilities Council
• CERN - The European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN). See case study - Technology translation for Science and Technology Facilities Council and CERN
• University of Southampton
• University of Surrey

We have given these organisations support in development of their technology transfer infrastructures.

DTI/OST
The Office of Science and Technology (OST) is the branch of the UK Department of Trade & Industry that controls the UK's science budget, £1.3 billion annual spend, and lays down the basis for the UK's science policy.

Jonathan Gold spent over two years on secondment to the OST as an Assistant Director. He worked as an advisor to government on the commercial exploitation of high-technology university and public sector research. He worked to establish seed capital funds and other mechanisms to assess ideas, grow new spinout companies, and increase new entrepreneurial ventures in universities. He organised the University Challenge Fund that ultimately set up £45 million in seed capital funds for universities to exploit their research.

He was chief government negotiator on the £170 million new "Diamond" synchrotron facility, dealing with all aspects of the project from finance to management structures. He was chairman of the UK Research Council exploitation working group and a member of the Government Intellectual Property panel. He also managed board-level finance and the reporting link between the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) and central government.

We cannot publicise all of the companies that we work for, but are pleased to say that all of our clients have felt able to recommend us to others.

So how much does it cost?

We will apply skilled people to support your business with a strong emphasis on meeting goals and value for money.

Typical relationships are structured around an ongoing Service Level commitment appropriate to your business needs, or fixed projects with short timescales and deliverables. We are usually involved in planning exit as the business grows, for example in support of recruitment for full-time sales personnel once the "pioneer" stage has been completed. Our broad experience of sales, marketing and business development helps to see the business through these stages of discontinuous growth.

We are pleased to consider a mixture of fees, performance payments and equity.

How do we get started?

We work with you to learn about your business and endeavour to match your requirements with our technical and business experiences in a cost-effective fashion. A typical start is a meeting, followed by a short discussion document and then a proposed level of services.

Several of our longer-term relationships have started with market assessment under the SMART Feasibility Award scheme, which allows us to work together and establish the market potential and viable business models, at low risk.

What are your terms and conditions of business?

Please see our general terms & conditions version 3.0 valid from June 2002.