yet2.com’s leadership team gathered for the 8th consecutive year at a beautiful retreat at the foot of Maine’s Casco Bay, the bay dotted with islands gouged by glaciers that moved a lot slower than today’s economy does.
yet2.com leadership team in Maine
Under a blue sky that only Maine can provide, we tossed around observations on trends in Open Innovation and IP Licensing, and got a chance to blow off some steam — Frisbee and basketball — and at least one of us suffered a humiliating defeat at chess (ahem). Although we are a small company, we have offices in Liverpool, Tokyo, Boston, and Wilmington, Delaware, so gathering everyone together in the same time zone is no small feat.
I particularly enjoy these events because I enjoy the company of my colleagues and I enjoy Maine; but meetings such as these are even more important because the world of Open Innovation and Patent Licensing is changing rapidly. In part, that’s driven by a natural business evolution — let’s call it “survival of the fittest idea” — but even that process is accelerated by the recent worldwide economic turmoil. Like Open Innovation itself, meetings of peers can’t help but generate new ideas and point out new ways of looking at things. (More about meetings in later posts.)
We gathered at the yacht club for dinner
There is a lot of value to be created by spotting trends early and moving fast.
Here is one thing that I learned from our discussions:
There is currently an unusual supply of venture-fundable spinout opportunities on the market that are the result of solid research and strong business cases. Why? Because the world’s leading companies are cutting back on R&D spending to reduce costs. Reluctantly, they’re killing off these great new growth opportunities. In fact, even for those projects that remain in-house and funded, large companies will need to partner with outside organizations to continue to provide value to shareholders.
Partnership? Collaboration? Here comes Open Innovation on steroids.
