Blog Contributors
- Alan Bickerstaff
- David L. Concannon
- Roger D. Feldman
- J. Matthew Lyons
- Bonnie Rubey McMurtry
- Siddharth "Sid" Sethy
- Daniel J. Swendsen
- Mark J. Thurber
- Sean S. Wooden
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Patents: A Hindrance or Facilitator of Green Technology Innovation?
Our courts are currently rife with educated debate as to what is and what should be patentable subject matter. Central to this debate is an age-old question: do patents hinder or facilitate innovation? For decades now, we have heard this debate revolve around software. Extreme open-source enthusiasts would argue that all software should be maintained as open-source to facilitate the sharing of code and joint efforts to improve the software. More recently, the debate has shifted to business methods and biomedical inventions. Now, with the explosion of green and clean technology innovations, and the corresponding steep rise in patent filings for such innovations, the debate focus has shifted again.
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Categories: Business Market Developments, Domestic Issues, Government Policy, Intellectual Property, International Issues
Biomass: State of the Industry
I attended the recent Department of Energy Biomass industry conference in late March. The atmosphere was very positive, and unlike other events where there is substantial uncertainty, the companies and participants were nearly uniformly optimistic about the state of the industry. A couple of companies were openly discussing filing for IPOs in late 2010 or early 2011. They seemed to be realistic goals. Many of the companies in attendance were pleased with the fact that the timeframe for DOE grants, after having slown down the industry as a whole, has been met and that money from that sector is flowing. Private market participants indicated that this would help them fund companies.
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Categories: Biofuels, Biomass, Business Market Developments, Clean Technology, Conference Updates, Domestic Issues, Emerging Markets, Federal Funding, Government Policy, New Investment Opportunities, Venture Capital Trends
Evaluating Clean Tech Investment in Clean Transportation
Clean transportation companies are emerging players in the clean tech space. What will it take to make them successful? The answer: linkage to the continuing national call for “sustainability.” The reason is this: Transportation is a basic service whose comparative economic value is driven by its cost effectiveness for different purposes in different contexts. Clean transportation, like “clean energy”, is a market in which the parameters for success are also effectively defined by law and by public opinion. Once embedded in our economy, these additional standards serve to validate to consumers, and therefore to manufacturers, and therefore to investors, the costs incurred and tradeoffs made to meet these additional standards.
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Categories: Business Market Developments, Carbon, Clean Transportation, Domestic Issues, Federal Funding, Government Policy, Regulatory
