Lisa Cook, Professor of Economics & International Relations at Michigan State University, commented on a recent study conducted at Harvard University regarding the demographic data of inventors in America. Cook stated that, “throughout history, women and underrepresented minorities have not been able to participate fully in each stage of the innovation process.” Following the study, I had been struck by this insight from Professor Cook, and while the observations I will share are largely applicable across all diverse communities, I will focus on one close to Professor Cook and me – gender.
Women are nearly 50% of the global population. Yet only 17% of global patent applications are filed by female inventors. Only Cuba exceeds the population average. My native country, China, stands at 24%, and my current domicile, the US, falls below the global average at 16%. Between 1995 and 2019, The Lemelson Foundation and MIT recognized the work of inventors who have benefitted society, and improved lives, by awarding 26 inventors for inventions like the balloon catheter, computer mouse and reCAPTCHA along with the entire field of recombinant DNA technology.
RAND recently calculated the social and economic value those 26 inventors helped create through their inventions. The 26 inventors held more than 3,800 patents, but their impact went far beyond the patents alone. They found that the 26 prize winners had gone on to start more than 140 companies to commercialize their inventions. These companies reported more than $54 billion in revenue and employed around 40,000 people. RAND further found that more than 40,000 subsequent patents were built upon the ideas disclosed in the original 3,800 patents. These findings, and others like them, demonstrate what may be realized by supporting more and more diverse inventors.
To support commercialization, Ocean Tomo Transactions, a part of J.S. Held, offers a purpose-built continuum of proven solutions to monetize and acquire patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and domain Intellectual Property (IP). Each Ocean Tomo service or market platform is designed to efficiently close sell-side, buy-side and license-based transactions. We have served as a trusted advisor to individual inventors, small and large operating company patent owners, successfully closing IP transactions with a cumulative value exceeding $1.5 Billion.
A platform the support commercialization, the Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask™ Market (OTBA), is global “meeting place” and online market, where buyers and sellers seeking to identify commercialization partners can efficiently discover technologies available for sale or license. The platform, supported by brokers, uses standard transaction documents and offers live customer support, helping to reduce transaction costs and the time required to close the transaction. The market also serves as an important knowledge center for price transparency serving a global community.
Ocean Tomo works with inventors seeking commercialization partners. German chemical company, BASF SE, retained Ocean Tomo to help them divest over 500 patents related to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology. The technology represented more than 15 years of research and development by BASF in phosphorescent materials and technologies. The Ocean Tomo transaction team successfully closed a $96 million transaction between BASF and the wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Display Corporation. The transaction team at Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held, was pleased we were able to assist BASF with successfully monetizing its extensive R&D efforts and ensure that the assets transitioned to a key player in such an important market who is well positioned to continue their commercialization.
I will leave you with a final thought on how the ecosystem partners can support the commercialization of technology: access to capital. Over the last 24 months, there has been a significant increase in all forms of monetization. We’re not only helping our clients understand licensing and transaction options, we are also providing the analyses and IP valuations they need to support transfers, sales and IP-backed collateralized lending.