Things I learned in Maine (part 2)

June 12, 2009

Okay, so we have the need for Open Innovation on steroids. Then what? To make all this partnering and IP sharing work, there will be more IP transactions as these rights are aggregated, bought, and sold. The IP transaction landscape has seen a lot of changes lately. It was red hot — but it cooled off in Q1 and Q2 of ‘09…I believe it will heat up by Q1 of 2010. Here are some of the areas where we see lots of market pull — that is, big players interested in buying.
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Things I learned in Maine (part 1)…

June 9, 2009

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

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

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:

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