Though open innovation is the gold standard for forward-thinking corporations to maintain a competitive edge, both providers of emerging technology (startups, universities, and other institutions) and technology-seekers (corporations) still face many roadblocks. As the tech-holder, you face the problem of marketing and sharing your idea without giving up intellectual property rights. As the tech-seeker, you face a limited network in a globalized world.

Tech-Providers Maximize Returns

As the inventor, you might know everything about particle physics or quantum mechanics. However, it’s unlikely that you’re an expert on patent law or intellectual property rights. In fact, commercializing your idea may be more difficult than pursuing your scientific research.

First, you have to find out how to get your tech to market. In order to market your tech to potential investors and collaborators, you need to show potential investors how your tech works and its potential market applications. You risk exposing valuable trade secrets. To avoid this problem, a smart tech-holder has a valid and effective non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in place. Even with a powerful NDA in place, you probably wouldn’t share your patent with someone you hadn’t met or worked with.

You shouldn’t share your ideas with abandon, as many countries do not respect international patent laws. For that matter, many domestic companies may be able to reverse-engineer your patent to come up with a slightly different version. Given all of this headache, it might seem like it’s not worth putting your patent through the commercialization process.

Enter , a networking platform that makes tech transfer easy. With seedsprint, you can make valuable industry connections. Through our network, verified individuals can view details of a particular technology in a secure virtual data room and you can immediately request that they sign an NDA.

Further, our platform serves as a virtual innovation district.  Like a city with the proper infrastructure to support open innovation, seed supports all aspects of commercialization. This starts with the research and ends in patent licensing, an industry-university partnership and commercialization. Further, the more content you have on our platform, the greater your ability to take your entire research ecosystem to the next level. You can build your institution’s ecosystem on the platform by adding technologies for license, and also by inviting affiliated startups and research projects. Putting your institution’s entire tech ecosystem on display gives you access to more opportunities within a global open innovation network.

Corporations Find Emerging Technologies

As a corporate tech scouts, your goals are often aligned with those of tech-providers: you want to find the best tech for your company, increase efficiency and profits, and gain access to global markets. Current methods for doing this can be limited in scope. If you are interested in developing an industry-university partnership, for instance, how can you gain access to more than a handful of the world’s universities?

Even as a powerful corporation, your network may be geographically limited. Many companies engage in tech transfer only in European and North American markets. Should you happen to be located in an innovation district, there is still a good chance that the district does not have all the tech you seek. For example, you may be based in the Americas but want to connect with tech in China, the Middle East, or sub-Saharan Africa. Tech transfer research limited to North American and European markets is likely to miss out on some of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy.

You could spend an enormous amount of time and energy researching global tech and flying around the world to meet with prospective candidates, or, you could join a virtual global innovation district like seedsprint. Our platform can help you form industry-university partnerships, identify and access global tech, and keep your business up-to-date on cutting edge developments in science-based technologies.

Fast-track Your Open Innovation Pipeline

Open innovation works best in an unrestricted environment. At seedsprint, we understand this. We have built a user-friendly network, based on the simple idea that global collaboration is the key to maintaining a competitive edge in a rapidly-innovating world.

We will be at the 2019 AUTM Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas to showcase our platform and give prospective users the opportunity to explore its ability to make open innovation easier than ever. As you understand, the hardest aspect of commercialization is matching tech with companies ready to assist with commercialization goals. With seed, a global database of patents and willing collaborators can be at your fingertips. Our network creates a secure and collaborative environment, which makes the process of open innovation and commercialization more efficient and competitive.

Find seed at booth 505 at AUTM. Otherwise, feel free to check out our website to learn more about how startups, researchers, and industry giants can all benefit from joining our network.