You couldn’t swing a dead cat at the BIO2008 conference today without smacking at least one governor out pressing the flesh and showing their state’s support for the biotech industry.

Joining Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle in announcing initiatives for biosciences and stem cell research, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter gave a talk today on Colorado’s growing biotech and bioscience economic sector, representing over 400 bioscience companies in the state.

Gov. Ritter just signed a bill putting $26.5 million investment in the industry through the new Colorado Bioscience Discoveries Grant Program. Gov. Ritter noted that private research is increasing and that venture capital funding is improving.

When asked about the outlook for bioscience research funding, Gov. Ritter said that the change in administration will most certainly bring a change in the mindset within the government. He felt both candidates would support increased research and noted that Sen. Barack Obama has a belief in biotech as a 21st century economy.

The Governor said that there will not only be additional research funding with a change in the administration but that he also foresees a different mindset at the FDA, which will lead to increased efficiencies in the drug approval process.

Also on tap later today, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Posted June 18th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Ventures, Conferences, Biotech
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Planet Eureka!

In the category of solutions looking for problems to solve, Planet Eureka! is a new on-line marketplace for patents and other intellectual property rights by Eureka Ranch Technologies in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Planet Eureka! Offers the USA National Innovation Marketplace as a way to bring together buyers and sellers of intellectual property. The Marketplace offers a place where inventors, patent holders, and intellectual property owners can post ideas in search of partners, buyers, and licensees.

Access is free to sellers and buyers but future plans include charging for consulting and other services. This site is from Doug Hall of American Inventor infamy.

InnoCentive

Another site, InnoCentive, provides a way for companies, nonprofits, and government agencies looking for solutions to problems to find the people and organizations that have answers. Charges $15,000 to post a problem as well as 40% commission on amount paid to the solution provider.

InnoCentive’s Open Innovation community is a way to get large numbers of members to try to solve some of the problems facing the world today. Those who are successful can win cash awards of up to $1,000,000 for solutions to Challenges. The site is a spin-off of Eli Lilly.

WikiPatents Community

Yet another patent marketplace is WikiPatents Community, which claims to contribute to the US patent system by reviewing issued patents and pending patent applications. WikiPatents features a wiki-like interface to review, rate, and discuss patents — plus free patent PDF downloads, file histories, and advanced patent searching.

The site also offers WikiPatents Marketplace, where companies can list patents for sale. IP is listed using various package deals ranging from $89/month to $1999/year.

What’s not clear is how members are able to vote on the value of any particular invention. The numbers for estimated value, royalty rate, market share and market size seem to be pulled from thin air. My favorite is U.S. Patent 7,095,126, entitled “Internal energy generating power source,” which claims:

1. A system for generating energy such that a portion of the generated energy supplies power to the system that generated the energy comprising: an electric motor capable of producing electric energy; a power source for supplying an initial amount of power to said electric motor; an alternator power source connected to said initial power source and said electric motor for continuously supplying power to said electric motor; a first inverter system connected to said electric motor, said inverter having an input through which said inverter system receives energy produced by said electric motor, said first inverter system also having one output through which said first inventor supplies power back to said electric motor to supply said electric motor with power; a load connected to said first inverter system via an inverter system output to alter the electric current traveling from said first inverter system such that the current feeding into the electric motor 30 is not purely inductive.

I think I’ve seen this perpetual motion machine before. Expect many of these to show up on Geekologie.

Posted May 12th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Ventures, Cool Tools, Licensing
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We currently have a client interested in making an acquisition in the U.S.  The criteria are listed below:

Location: Anywhere in the 48 Contiguous States, excluding California

Size in Sales: $5,000,000 to $15,000,000

Type of Business: Manufacturing, Non-Union, with a successful history

Type of Ownership: Privately Owned/Held or a Division/Subsidiary of Public Company

Type of Purchase: Asset Purchase

Type of Industry: Not “O.E.M.” Automotive, Not High Environmental Issues, Not High Labor Intensive

If you know of any companies that meet the above criteria and are looking to be acquired, please contact me.

Posted September 21st, 2007 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Ventures, Frost IP
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