In Focus: RTI’s Steve McManus
RTI International is MRC’s secret weapon in the Tech Scouting and TDMI realm. As one of the world’s leading research institutes, RTI is dedicated to “…improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice.”
Its staff of 3,700 individuals provides research and technical services to governments and businesses in more than 75 countries in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, advanced technology, energy and the environment, laboratory testing, and much more. With roots that reach back to the postwar space race, RTI brings a tradition of technical capability and academic rigor that any Fortune 500 company would envy.
Steve McManus, Innovation Manager at RTI, is MRC’s primary Tech Scouting/TDMI liaison. For those customers lucky enough to be part of this process, Steve brings the full weight and capability of RTI to bear on their success.
With a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a Master’s in management, McManus marries an engineer’s technical ability with a marketer’s vision. Together, these enable RTI/MRC clients to see beyond the obvious when it comes to the application of technology in creative ways.
And with more than 20 years of Tech Scouting experience—as well as nearly a half century of TDMI—RTI works as an expert body, bringing access to expertise that can resolve even the thorniest technical challenges.
Steve’s department, the center of technical innovation, specializes in the area of open innovation and technical commercialization. Its staff of 25 full-time individuals boasts a wide variety of backgrounds and experience. Like McManus, most have a technical, engineering, or science background in addition to time spent in the business world. In many cases, that means experience with small and medium enterprises, so they have a first-hand understanding of the typical MEP client.
The biggest benefit for MRC’s clients, though, is almost certainly the process expertise and access to business and technology in a wide range of domains.
“We bring a breadth of technical and business expertise and access to external networks,” McManus says. “RTI also does a great deal of its own research—in nanotech, pharmaceuticals, and environmental science, among others. That depth of knowledge and research acumen is something that the vast majority of businesses simply don’t have, outside of the Tech Scouting and TDMI programs.”