The final area discussed was technology development, particularly in area of conservation. He developed a process to refine scanning of artwork into files. The museum has not figured out how to market the technology, or if it could be patented. It was a use of name issue that was resolved by the Provost. It includes people from Xerox, McDonalds, ATT etc.
Technology is a medium.
Over the past year a hot software product has been developed for internal use, but there has been overwhelming demand for it from outside of Harvard. It may be a problem to brand it as an HBS software product because its application could be beyond business schools. HBS began seeking external partners to license the technology to because the commercial development, production and marketing of software products is not part of the HBS mission, and it entailed the least risk. This does raise the issue of trying to find an organizational structure to assist with commercial development of a product. Many policies exist to govern these activities.