System and method for developing technology assets

Abstract

An automated method for developing new products within a development entity, comprises receiving respective catalogs of technology assets, each including at least one of a patent, trade secret, know-how, documentation, prototypes, pre-production units, production samples, tooling, and demonstration frameworks. Each catalog corresponds to a discrete pool of technology assets having subject matter in common. The development entity also receives, from the originating owner, title to each pool in exchange for an equity interest in the development entity and an option to re-acquire the pool upon payment of a reacquisition fee to at least one primary investor. Further development of each technology asset pool is funded by at least one primary investor, who receives an equity interest in the development entity in exchange for its capital investments. Costs expended by the development entity to develop new product concepts corresponding to each asset pool are separately tracked. If the re-acquisition option is exercised, these costs form the basis for calculating the fee to be paid. If not, monetization is achieved by selling and/or licensing elements the enhanced technology asset pool to a spin-off entity funded by at least one secondary investor.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computerized method for developing technology assets, comprising:
 storing in a database a re-acquisition record associating:
 a Technology Contributor; 
 a New Company; and 
 the terms under which the Technology Contributor may re-acquire at least a portion of the transferred equity in the New Company; 
   storing in the database a cost record associating:
 the New Company; and 
 the Development Entity's costs associated with the New Company; 
   storing in the database an investment record associating:
 the New Company; and 
 the terms under which an Investor invested in the New Company; 
   receiving a trigger, and, in response:
 retrieving factors to be used to compute a re-acquisition amount the Technology Contributor should pay to re-acquire at least a portion of the New Company from the reacquisition record, the cost record, and the investment record; and 
 reporting the factors. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein storing the re-acquisition record further comprises associating:
 an identification of technology transferred from the Technology Contributor to the New Company; and 
 an amount of equity in the New Company transferred from the Technology Contributor to a Development Entity. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein storing in the database comprises storing in a database that is distributed over at least two of the Development Entity, the Technology Contributor and the New Company. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein storing the reacquisition record comprises storing the reacquisition record in a database table that is different from a database table in which the cost record is stored and a different database table in which the investment record is stored. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein storing the reacquisition record, the cost record, and the investment record comprises storing at least portions of the reacquisition record, the cost record, and the investment record in the same database record. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein storing the reacquisition record further comprises associating a right in the transferred technology retained by the Development entity. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising computing the reacquisition amount and reporting it. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving a trigger comprises receiving a command through a graphical user interface. 
     
     
         9 . A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium comprising:
 a re-acquisition record source code segment including instructions to store in a database a re-acquisition record associating:
 a Technology Contributor; 
 a New Company; and 
 the terms under which the Technology Contributor may re-acquire at least a portion of the transferred equity in the New Company; 
   a cost record source code segment including instructions to store in the database a cost record associating:
 the New Company; and 
 the Development Entity's costs associated with the New Company; 
   an investment record source code segment including instructions to store in the database an investment record associating:
 the New Company; and 
 the terms under which an Investor invested in the New Company; and 
   a reporting source code segment including instructions to, in response to receipt of a trigger, to retrieve factors to be used to compute a re-acquisition amount the Technology Contributor should pay to re-acquire at least a portion of the New Company from the reacquisition record, the cost record, and the investment record, and to report the factors.   
     
     
         10 . A system for developing technology assets comprising:
 a development incubator unit module operative to track intellectual property assets developed by a participating new entity, an amount of time invested by the new entity for development of each asset developed, and a cost associated with development by the new entity of each asset developed;   a new company module having associated therewith a plurality of new companies, each company receiving at least one of a transferred technology asset and a retained licenses associated with a transferred technology asset;   an investor module, operatively associated with the new company module and adapted to associate at least one investor, an amount invested by said at least one investor, an amount of equity in a corresponding new company transferred to said at least one investor, and a set of terms associated with investment by said at least one investor in the corresponding new company;   a technology contributor module operatively associated with the new company module and investor module and adapted to track intellectual property assets contributed by each technology contributing entity, an amount of equity in the corresponding new company transferred to each technology contributing entity, and a set of investment terms associated with an exchange of equity and technology assets; and   an intellectual property tracking module operatively associated with the development incubator unit module, said intellectual property tracking module being operable to track invention disclosure creation and status, patent application status, issued patent status, developed intellectual property, and retained intellectual property licenses.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further including an administrative module operatively associated with the development incubator unit module, said administrative module being operative to support creation, access and modification of human resources and accounting records associated with each corresponding new company.