Tech Trading
YOU’D THINK most companies would want to keep their research and development work top secret. But in today’s relentless quest for more profit centers, firms may need to tap the revenue from licensing their own technologies. What if they can’t find takers right away? That’s what one new Web marketer is betting on.
“The enzyme in Tide detergent could be used for oil drilling but the engineers at Procter & Gamble might not know this,” says Leise Roberts, marketing director for Yet2.com. “On [our] site, engineers from different industries can find each other.”
The site, developed by Ben du Pont and company CEO Chris De Bleser, attempts to create a neutral marketplace to match technology developed in one industry to another. Unlike most online patent databases – which list patents in oblique language to protect secrets – Yet2 .com features plainly written descriptions of what a product can do. There are several Fortune 200 companies among its 57 founding members.
Users can log on to the site and search for a technology. Members write functional descriptions of their offerings and list them on Yet2.com. Once a potential buyer and seller express mutual interest, they can qualify each other through a confidential exchange of data. After the company facilitates the introduction, the parties evaluate, negotiate and come to an agreement offline.
Yet2.com charges members subscription fees based on degree of use. A company like P&G that has hundreds of engineers could pay as much as $10,000, says Roberts. When technology licensing deals are made, Yet2.com pulls in a 10% commission not to exceed $50,000.
To attract potential users Yet2.com has been running direct response space ads and conducting e-mail and direct mail tests.
From the space effort, Yet2.com has been able to get inquiries from several thousand automotive engineers through ads in publications such as Ward’s Auto World.
Through e-mail efforts designed by Lexington, MA online ad agency e-Dialog, Yet2.com has scored some moderate success, says marketing director Scott Healy. Earlier this fall, the company received an 18% response to a several-thousand-piece e-mail test it sent out to bench engineers at companies in automotive, aerospace and other industries that do a lot of research and development, he notes. Names came from aerospace publications and the Thomas Register.
While Roberts won’t make any revenue projections, she asserts that “Yet2.com will revolutionize technology transfer.”
