Ben is founder and GP of yet2ventures in 2010, an Open Innovation venture capital fund, that specializes in; corporate spinouts, medical devices, electronics, materials science and clean tech. The yet2ventures team has been working together since 1999; we have offices in Tokyo, Boston, Liverpool, and Wilmington, Delaware. The firm has leveraged our experience to invest in over 40 technology venture-backed start-ups, creating a network of hundreds of entrepreneurs who we have advised and guided to successful outcomes.
Ben is co-founder and of yet2.com, a global marketplace for technology. yet2.com helps companies scout for, identify and acquire new technology to drive growth. yet2.com also helps companies gain more value from their existing technology and patent portfolios.
Examples of yet2.com’s work include:
- Axela Biosensors – yet2.com identified Axela and spun out Kimberly Clark‘s biosensing platform technology (including 150 patents).
- Chromodex – yet2.com identified Chromodex and spun out Bayer‘s bioanalyitical platform technology.
- Corium – yet2.com identified Corium for P&G and spun out their transdermal drug delivery platform technology.
- SureToGrow – yet2.com identified and helped found SureToGrow with DuPont‘s hydroponic soil platform technology.
yet2.com is the world’s leading open innovation platform. Most of the Fortune 500 are engaged in deal discussions through yet2.com, ranging from new drug-delivery technologies to new heavy-oil recovery technologies. yet2.com is also particularly good at helping small companies and entrepreneurs find licensees and corporate partners, in addition to finding capital. We have invested in our clients technologies.
yet2.com leverages Open Innovation to invest in and help promising new technology companies.
yet2.com has offices in; Boston, Liverpool, Tokyo, and Wilmington, Delaware. In 2000 it was jointly funded by Siemens, Bayer, Caterpillar, Honeywell, P&G, DuPont, and NTT Finance.
yet2.com’s management team gathers every Spring in Maine. Here we are overlooking Casco Bay
Prior to founding yet2.com, Ben spent 14 years with DuPont in a variety of positions in; Specialty Chemicals, Fibers, and Automotive business units, living; in Elgin SC, Detroit MI and Boston MA.
Ben has a 1986 BSME from Tufts University and is a director of; Morgan Stanley Capital International NYSE:MSCI, Vianix (a speech compression company), Speakman, Longwood Gardens, Bessemer Trust Delaware, First State Innovation and the Tower Hill School. Ben is a Partner with the Potomac Energy Fund. Ben is a; licensed pilot, a ham radio operator, and an avid sailor.
Ben lives with his wife Laura and their two children in Wilmington, Delaware. Here is a photo of them in 2001. (in any subsequent photo he will look worse and she will look better)
Below is a picture of Ben sailing a Moth (a small boat using hydrofoils) in Florida in 2009. Moths can go 30Mph (or 2x the speed of the wind) and are cleantech.
Ben-
It has been quite a while, but E.I DuPont de Nemours and Co., Inc. was my first career job out of Graduate School at Georgia Tech. I worked for about 8 years out of suburban Wilmington in the Fibers Dept…… engineering, R&D, Tech Service, etc. I’m sure you remember the Chestnut Run facility and the Centre Road Building. I worked out of both in the late ’50s and mid ’60s. Lived in Claymont. I’m elderly now and long retired from active business but my creative spirit developed some technologies over the years which I still hope to capitalize on. Patent coverage is long gone but there are developing markets which can open important wealth opportunities for companies with the kind of knowledge and spirit compatible with my developments. I hesitate to relate too much at this point. How much time do you spend in Florida? I’m in Delray Beach and Ft. Pierce. Maybe we can get together sometime and chat.
Stu Snyder
My kids are ready for the boating season to begin. They keep bugging me to go, although Our boat has been in need of repair since last season. We have alot of work to do on it and its gonna take some time, but like we do each year, we upgrade several of the systems, and make our boat better than it was before. Thanks for the article.
Hello,
I am looking for success stories of using open source models for innovation. Could you share with me any of them?
On he other hand, do you think the open source model can help innovation?
Dr. Chesbrough seeks to set the limits between open source and open innovation, but it is clear that many synergies can be found between these two concepts.
Great site here. Lots of blogs like this cover subjects that aren’t found in magazines. I don’t know how we got by 15 years ago with just print media.
Great blog , i will bookmark it right now !
You are a very smart person!
It is my great pleasure to look at your blog and to enjoy your great posts here. I like that a lot. I can feel that you paid much attention for those articles, as all of them make sense and are very useful
“Super-Duper site! I am loving it!!?! Will arrive back again – using you feeds also, Thank you.”
[...] this space as it helps drive home my overall point. The first useful resource I want to mention is Ben duPont’s post about 5 Open Innovation Mistakes Companies Make. Read Ben’s post for all 5, but I only [...]