Author name: Jeff Lindsay

Startups and Patents: New Study Sheds Light on Practices and Reasons for Filing

Intellectual Assets, patents / By

The recently published Berkeley Patent Survey is one of the most comprehensive studies to date on the use of patents by startups and entrepreneurs. PatentlyO discusses the study and offers some helpful insights. The study shows that startups are using patents more than was previously recognized, for past analysis based was limited by incomplete USPTO …

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Thinking Beyond Ethanol

1 Comment / agriculture, bioenergy, bioproducts, Brazil, green, green innovation, South America, start-ups, sustainability / By

Ethanol as a biofuel may soon reach practical limits in the US and frankly is clouded with questions about its economic and environmental utility. However, the fermentation systems for producing ethanol can be adapted to produce much more valuable products using special microbes developed at some of the most promising green energy and biotech companies. …

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Amyris: Great Story of Open Innovation and Renewable Products

2 Comments / bioenergy, bioproducts, Brazil, collaboration, consumer products, green, green innovation, innovation, Intellectual Assets, IP rights, open innovation, partnerships, patents, South America, start-ups, sustainability, tech transfer, universities / By

In my ongoing work on analyzing the intellectual property landscape in biofuels, one of the most impressive companies I’ve run across is Amyris, a renewable products company whose clever use of synthetic biology goes far beyond biofuels. Amyris was founded by Kinkead Reiling, Neil Renninger, and Jack D. Newman who met at Berkeley and founded …

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Innovation on the Tip of Your Tongue: Sweet Serendipity

innovation / By

Lucky breaks are often behind some of the surprises in science that lead to successful innovation. This is especially true when chemical compounds are being studied. The stories of how new beneficial uses are discovered sometimes seem like pure luck. Take the discovery of sucralose, for example. This potent artificial sweetener, now used in hundreds …

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The BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf: Innovation Fatigue in Full Force

5 Comments / external fatigue, fatigue factors, government, green, green innovation, networks, organizational fatigue, publicity, sustainability, tech transfer, technology / By

While many US citizens are tempted to make political points from the problems we’re facing in the Gulf, there are some basic organizational issues that transcend political parties and get at one of the basic problems in responding to unexpected changes. The problem is bureaucracy and the myriad of personal and departmental incentives that are …

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Update on Innovation in Brazil, with a Highlight on Education

2 Comments / Brazil, business models, corporate, creativity, innovation, South America / By

My recent visit to three beautiful regions of Brazil included opportunities to learn more about the economic climate and the future of innovation. Entrepreneurial opportunities are tremendous for innovative and bold Brazilians, in spite of the challenges that come with extremely expensive capital, high taxation, and occasional bureaucratic barriers. Brazil continues rising rapidly, on its …

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Swinging at the Innovation Piñata: The Need for Outside Eyes

1 Comment / collaboration, consumer products, creativity, open innovation / By

Finding a hit in innovation is a lot like swinging at a piñata blindfolded. You know a treasure is there, but success is a matter of random luck because you don’t where where and when to strike. Add a pair of outside eyes, though, and your ability to reap rewards greatly increases. Outside eyes, freed …

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Job Growth Through Sound Intellectual Property Rights and a More Efficient Patent System

1 Comment / economic factors, external fatigue, government, innovation, IP rights, patents / By

Gene Quinn’s article, “ Proposal: Unlocking Job Growth with Patent Acceleration” over at IP Watchdog, reminds us of the powerful link between IP rights and economic growth. It’s an issue we take up in Conquering Innovation Fatigue when we discuss Hernando de Soto’s findings (countries with respect for property rights have much better economic growth …

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The Death of Angel Investing? Possible Unintended Consequences of a Financial Reform Bill

7 Comments / external fatigue, government, incentives, innovation, investment, regulations, risk, start-ups, Wisconsin / By

The lifeblood of innovation is capital. Investment of capital is the primary difference between great ideas and great teams that go nowhere and those that change the world. From the airplane to the iPod, from wonder drugs to wonder software, innovation requires invested capital to bring concepts to commercial reality. Angel investors play a crucial …

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Deadly Metrics: What We Can Learn from a Wisconsin Grocer

1 Comment / corporate, decision making, incentives, management, metrics, Wisconsin / By

One of the lessons of Conquering Innovation Fatigue is that the choice of metrics business leaders use to track and drive innovation can contribute to innovation fatigue when the metrics drive bad decisions and poor behavior. A recent example of how metrics can actually achieve the opposite of the intended results comes from a Wisconsin …

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