Why?

Because even the licensing professionals at yet2.com can´t personally know the needs of every organization or which companies may be interested in acquiring every technology. A marketplace brings together companies that never knew of each other´s existence, and brings together companies that know each other well--as companies--but where individuals may not know about particular needs or know the right individuals to contact. It´s an extremely valuable adjunct to the yet2.com professional staff and to the array of value-generating services that yet2.com offers its clients.

Founded in 1999, yet2.com´s network of clients has access to about half the world´s R&D capacity through the listings on the yet2.com global marketplace and through our professional contacts. Our headquarters are located in Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in Nevada, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Clients include many of the Fortune 500 and many more medium-sized and smaller innovators, too.

Intellectual Property Needs a Marketplace

The technology acquisition and licensing market is estimated at $105 billion USD and is growing rapidly. But without a global marketplace dedicated to the transfer of intellectual assets, finding potential buyers and sellers of technology would be a hit-or-miss proposition. "R&D intellectual property is not a traditional product, so people don´t know quite what to do with it," says Forrester research analyst Steve Kafka. "It´s usually the old-boy network. You call up your friend at Philips because that´s who you know."

Because that process relies heavily on personal networking, it may take up to 18 months (or more) to find a buyer and to negotiate a deal. It´s even harder to fill a technology need that your organization has that might allow you to bring a new product to market more quickly--where do you go to seek technology? Moreover, companies rarely look beyond their own industry to market or acquire technologies. An engine designer seeking fuel injection technology might not immediately think of obtaining it from a rocket manufacturer--but that´s exactly what has happened on the yet2.com marketplace.

Way Beyond Patents

How does the yet2.com global marketplace differ from an Internet-based patent database? Because patent abstracts are designed to protect an idea from infringement, they can actually obscure the nature of the technology they describe. Claims are as broad as possible, and you may not recognize what the technology in the patent actually can be applied to without some previous knowledge and a good deal of research. Conversely, yet2.com features functional abstracts written in plain English that have the aim of marketing the technology--and which often speculate on applications of the technology that may not currently be on the market. Second, yet2.com technologies include groups of associated patents. Third, every technology listed on yet2.com is available for licensing--saving the searcher from dead-end leads--and yet2.com provides an introduction to directly to the decision-maker.

Answering Needs

Perhaps the biggest difference between the yet2.com marketplace and a patent database is its ability to answer needs. Most organizations have a huge well of expertise and technology that goes far beyond any patent portfolio. By posting an anonymous need with yet2.com, you can find the answer to that need--perhaps from a company you never dreamed possessed it.

The Past Is Not the Future

In the past, companies guarded their technologies and trade secrets like gold, but now the yet2.com marketplace offers them the ability to extract tremendous value from the intellectual property that they are willing to share. In the past, companies were shackled by "not invented here." The yet2.com marketplace is changing that to "proudly found elsewhere." The efficient market provided by yet2.com is turning unrealized assets into income streams and bringing new products to market by filling previously unmet needs.

How to Contact yet2.com

The company headquarters are at 10 Kearney Road, Suite 300, in Needham, Massachusetts 02494 USA. Telephone: +1 (781) 972-0600. For more contact information, see Contact Us.