 I love working at yet2.com for a bunch of reasons. The first is we get to learn about so many interesting new technologies and meet the inventors behind them. EADS is a good example. They are an R&D powerhouse, and we’re privileged to be able to walk around their labs looking for technologies to license or spin out. It’s the best job in the world.To share this wonderful experience, we’ve started hosting webinars. These online gatherings are are great for the yet2.com community, the technology scouts, the entrepreneurs, and great for the companies we’ve invested in too.
The next Webinar is on 30 September 2010 at 11:00 a.m.–12:30 pm EDT US. (8:00 am PDT. 16:00 UK.) The EADS Group includes Airbus, a world-leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft and multi-role military transporters; the world’s largest helicopter producer, Eurocopter; and EADS Astrium, the European leader in space programs. During this webinar, we will provide an overview of the licensing initiative and will further present specific technologies on welded structures and processes, surface engineering, and new joining technologies. Register here for this latest webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/438364691 |
yet2.com Webinar – 3 New Metal Joining Technologies from EADS – 9/30 @ 11am EDT
September 14, 2010
Leave a Comment » | 
news release, open innovation, yet2.com | Tagged: Aerospace, Ben duPont, Coatings, EADS, innovation, metal joining, patent, Surface Engineering, technology scouting, venture, Webinar, Welding | 
Permalink
Posted by bendupont
yet2Ventures Closes Investment in Avantis Medical
September 1, 2010yet2.com’s venture group made an equity investment in Avantis Medical
One of the best things about yet2 and our venture investing is the interesting people we get to meet and the technology we get to see. I’m excited to say we can add one more to our growing list of portfolio companies.
Avantis Medical Systems, Inc. is a medical device company founded to develop and manufacture catheter-based endoscopic devices. Based in Sunnyvale, California, the company is commercializing devices for use in detecting and treating cancers and other abnormalities of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
The Avantis team has many decades of experience in the medical device industry. The Company is developing a number of innovative devices based on the convergent technologies of micro-chips and reinforced catheters.
We’re impressed with the Avantis technology, IP position, and management team.
Leave a Comment » | news release, open innovation, Venture capital, yet2.com | Tagged: cancer, catheter, endoscope, medical device, venture, venture capital, yet2.com | Permalink
Posted by bendupont
yet2.com – 5 Learnings on Selling Early Stage Technology
May 26, 2010For 10 years me and my colleagues at yet2.com have been helping sell early stage technology. We’ve completed more than 100 licensing deals in fields as diverse as biotech to materials science. We’ve done these deals on 4 continents. We’ve learned a lot over the years, and I thought I’d share some of those learnings.
The yet2.com Team - in Portland Maine
The technology we see, frequently fits into 3 categories. First, is the result of a corporate R&D effort, that did not have the expected result. It was likely not commercialized because it did not solve the issue that needed to be solved. It may have addressed a market that the parent company does not sell to (it was invented by accident), or it may have been a success in one market but it had broader application. These are the most frequent reasons large companies give us a call. We love these kinds of assets because the usually have lots of test data and have more than one patent filing.
The second kind of of technology we frequently see is from a successful start up, who has invented a technology that has applications beyond their ability to commercialize. They pursue mart A, and we help them find licensees for market B, C and D. We also love these kinds of assets, becuause they typically are well patented and have lots of patent protection. If the technology is successful in these secondary applications, licensing here can drive up the valuation of the start up and make access to capital easier.
Thirdly, we do see allot of technology from Universities or failed start-ups. Frequently these don’t have as much test data, and even more difficult, access to the inventor may not be available. Which makes licensing even more difficult.
What have we learned?
3 Comments | commentary, open innovation, Uncategorized, yet2.com | Tagged: Ben duPont, clean tech, future trends, innovation, open innovation, out-licensing, technology scouting, venture, yet2.com | Permalink
Posted by bendupont
Frank Bonsal – 4 things I’ve Learned about the Rocket Fuel of Innovation
May 1, 2010
Frank Bonsal and Ben duPont having lunch in Baltimore on Friday April 30th
Several times a year I make a pilgrimage to Baltimore to learn from Frank Bonsal. Frank co-founded NEA, one the of the countries largest and most successful venture capital firms, with more than $8B invested in 500 companies. It is one of the countries top preforming venture capital firms, and Frank is a key reason. I’ve known Frank for 12 years and have learned alot from him. Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting down with him to trade thoughts and learn from the master. I thought I’d share a few of those learnings:
1) Venture investing (and for that matter Open Innovation) is about people. People are what really drives value creation, and with the right mixture of capital and technology, they form the powerful rocket fuel of innovation that can drive acompany into the stratosphere. Frank is the spark that makes it happen.
2) Listen, ask questions and take notes. Every time I meet with Frank he has a notebook out and he gathers thoughts and observations. Come to think of it, every bright person I know does this.
3) Act now. Every time I’ve met with Frank we make at least one un-announced joint call to someone who I should meet. Sometime’s we’ll make a dozen. A great innovator will be walking down the street, next thing he knows Frank Bonsal has him on speaker phone with someone he should meet. Wow.
4) It’s not the network that matters most, it’s relationships. Anyone can have a large network, but only an extraordinary person has a lot of good friends – and friends are a powerful economic engine. I dont know anyone who has more good friends than Frank.
Real value is created by connecting; people, capital and good ideas (technology). Of the 3, people are the most important – and the critical ingredient to the rocket fuel for innovation.
Next time your cell phone rings, get ready, it could be Frank wanting to connect you with someone you should meet. Get ready to feel the spark.
3 Comments | open innovation, Uncategorized, yet2.com | Tagged: apple, Ben duPont, capital, clean tech, Frank Bonsal, nea, open innovation, P&G, rocket fuel, technology scouting, venture, yet2.com | Permalink
Posted by bendupont
Bloom Energy – Emerges from Stealth; Announces New 100KW Fuel Cell, for $750,000
February 27, 2010www.bloomenergy.com announced a new fuel cell that is being tested at 5 sites (Google, ebay, Walmart (2), and FedEx) in California. These ‘energy servers’ are abut the size of a parking space and can power 80% of a Walmart store. It takes almost any fuel from ethanol to biomass and turns it into electricity.
Fuel cells are nothing new, but Bloom has figured out a way to make them cheaply and efficiently. CEO and Founder, KR Sridhar claims that a Bloom box, which he calls an energy server, is twice as efficient as the electricity grid. “For the same amount of electricity, you need half the fuel,” he says. “If you use a renewable fuel you are carbon neutral. Use all the electricity you want and don’t feel guilty about polluting the environment.”
They cost about $750,000 for a 100 kilowatt system. A typical electricity cost for commercial customers is 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour versus 13 cents for what they might pay a California utility.
Bloom fuel cells are based on a solid oxide technology, quite different than previous fuel cell approaches. It’s the result of $400M in venture funding.
60 Minutes, wont allow me to imbed their video, so there is the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n&tag=api
3 Comments | commentary, future trends | Tagged: Bloom Energy, clean tech, Fuel Cell, future trends, Google, innovation, open innovation, patent, venture | Permalink
Posted by bendupont
yet2.com High Interest Technology Areas
October 26, 2009Overseeing a hub of global technology exchange, yet2.com now enjoys fascinating insight into broad buying trends across the technology marketplace – the aggregated ‘shopping list’.
Every day yet2.com is presented with information about market demand and supply regarding a broad range of technologies. Thus daily, our Boston, London and Tokyo offices receive 5–6 data points of serious buyers’ interests in specific technologies. Our definition of “serious” buyers is senior technologists from Global 1000 companies with approved budgets and active projects to pursue specific technology opportunities. We abstract this information into an internal High-Interest Areas database, collecting the most sought-after technologies in yet2.com space.
Periodically we analyze these data points into a broad mapping of market interest, trends and specific technology areas in which yet2.com sees high market interest from these serious buyers.
This is one of the most interest and valuable reports yet2 completes, and is my favorite activity. It’s an evergreen process, because new data keeps rolling in and every few months we aggregate and publish it. Here is the latest overview.
3 Comments | commentary, open innovation, yet2.com | Tagged: capital, clean tech, open innovation, patent, technology scouting, technology trends, venture, Wikinomics | Permalink
Posted by bendupont
The 3rd trend….The corporate farm team
August 15, 2009In 1960 the world was a simple place. A few large companies dominated each major industry and they were skeptical of new ideas, especially ones that were not theirs. This was called NIH (Not Invented Here). Great technology, and great new ideas were concentrated in a few labs, and they did not transfer from one company to the next or one geography to the next.
Today, that landscape has dramatically shifted. Large companies are creating a lot less research as % of all research, and small companies are creating much more. Today 80% of the Fortune 500 have technology scouting programs to find this technology. Companies are moving from NIH to PFE (Proudly Found Elsewhere) . As an illustration of this, the volume of patents that have been licensed in just the past few years has gone way up. Technology is starting to transfer – it is flowing from one company to the next and from one geography to the next. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | commentary, open innovation | Tagged: capital, Chesbrough, Innocentive, Mehemt Oz, Nine Sigma, Not Invented Here, open innovation, scouting, technology, venture, Wikinomics, yet2.com | Permalink
Posted by bendupont
Matt Ridley – When Ideas Have Sex (we all win)
August 22, 2010I just heard a fascinating talk by Matt Ridley, who makes the convincing case that through history the engine that drives productivity is the meeting and mating of ideas. It’s not important how clever the individuals are, he says, what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.
If this is true, then how we filter out the thousands of ideas we learn about every day to focus on the one or two that are key to understand – is a key skill. Where we get ideas and how we filter them – and how we mate them – is critical to being good parents of productive ideas. While ‘crowd sourcing’ is one way to comb the singles bars for good ideas – perhaps there is another more productive way to mate the key ideas that will help your company grow? Perhaps we need a ‘grandmother’ to help make the connections?