Though I don't have any personal experience dealing with this in the real world, I do have an answer for those with access to an academic institution. Usually,

Though I don't have any personal experience dealing with this in the real world, I do have an answer for those with access to an academic institution. Usually, the big research universities (in the U.S. that I know of) have a technology transfer department and they can be very resourceful. Of course, this depends highly on your university... And if your university has a business school, they might be helpful too.