Stuart Jackson is a life sciences entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the biomedical research and bioengineering space. His ventures focus on driving scientific and engineering innovations to the global marketplace. Based in Kansas City, he is currently the CEO at AnalyzeDirect, a medical imaging software company that delivers advanced visualization solutions to the global research community. He is also CEO at The Sensory Chair Company, a research and development venture that designs deep touch pressure treatment devices for people with sensory processing disorder.
Stuart holds an MBA in Technology Management and Entrepreneurship from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a PhD in Engineering Materials from the University of Sheffield. During his time at Illinois, he was an integral part of Illinois Business Consulting (then the Office for the Study of Business Issues). We had the chance to catch up with him recently.
IBC: What about IBC is most memorable?
SJ: I was part of the original IBC steering group that helped determine the types of consulting projects we wanted to be involved in, as well as setting the ground rules for client engagements. It was a student-run enterprise from the start and I led the technology transfer project group. During the first year, we delivered over 30 industry analyses and market validation projects to the UIUC intellectual property office and associated faculty, focused on determining the market value of new university inventions.
IBC: What were the best lessons learned through IBC?
SJ: Through IBC I learned how to think strategically about real world business problems, how to work effectively in teams and how to lead diverse groups of people to achieve a common goal. Coming from an academic engineering background I think one of the best lessons I learned was how to engage with clients on a consulting basis – not something I’d had a lot of experience with! Every IBC project is a professional engagement, with professional expectations. Regardless of your knowledge base or work experience, your credibility depends on bringing your “A” game to every interaction with customers.
IBC: What skills did you gain from IBC that you still use today?
SJ: The main skills I gained from IBC included how to validate a market for a new innovation, how to appropriately protect the intellectual property around that innovation and how to bring various resources together to effectively bring the innovation to the marketplace. These are essential technology commercialization skills that I still use on a regular basis.
IBC: What advice would you pass onto current members?
SJ: IBC provides an extraordinary experiential learning opportunity that translates completely to the outside business world. Embrace it, put your whole being into it, and give it the highest priority among everything you do. Make the deliverable something that reflects you as a professional, and that you can be truly proud of. This will involve putting countless extra-curricular hours into the project – but it will pay dividends in the long run!