Don't Say I Didn't Warn You!

If you have read my book Mastering Technology Commercialization, you know that in it I repeatedly pound home the message that sales and marketing are involved in every aspect of what you must achieve.  Well, in turn, the hard-science of persuasion (it’s not a fine art) is the crux of sales and marketing.

Now tell me: Would you attempt to develop a new technology if you did not understand the science behind that technology?  Of course you wouldn’t… not if you are like nearly every inventor I have ever worked with.

But would you attempt sales and marketing if you did not understand the science behind persuasion?  Of course you would… if you are like nearly every inventor I have ever worked with!

Take this as fair but friendly warning: You must understand and apply the science of persuasion if you are to succeed in commercializing your new technology.

Fortunately for you, there is an absolute “beast” of a book that clearly and concisely crams into your cranium the key concepts you desperately want to know.

The book is: “Yes!  50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive.”  It’s less than $12 from Amazon.  There… you’ve been warned; so if you die a failure with an extra $12 in your pocket, don’t come cryin’ to me!

EU Patent Consolidation

Finally...some good news on the patent front for entrepreneurs after the disaster of the decision to change the U.S to the first-to-file system.

It is about to get a whole lot cheaper and easier to achieve patent protection across the European Union countries.  The EU has approved a simplified system whereby an inventor can receive a single patent that is valid in 25 European countries.  This "unitary patent" is set to become effective in 2014. 

This is particularly good news for small and mid-size businesses with limited resources.  Currently, patents must be translated into the language of each country in which it is issued, which is very expensive.

A single patent court is also to be established, so that patent-holders do not have to defend a patent in each country.

The languages to be used in the new patent are English, French and German.  This decision caused Italy and Spain to refuse to participate, which of course will be their loss.

The following information is provided by the European Patent Office in its news release on the subject:

"The unitary patent will provide legal protection for inventors in 25 EU member states through one single administrative step. It will co-exist with national patents and the classical European patent with which it shares the legal basis and the procedure for grant (as laid out in the European Patent Convention), and from which it differs only in the post-grant phase: Under the unitary patent scheme, the EPO will also be in charge of centrally administering the patent, levying the annual renewal fees and distributing them to the participating EU member states. The fact that unitary patents will be treated as a single patent no longer requiring to be validated (including translation) and administered nationally in each and every state, will lead to massive savings in terms of time and costs."

That's a nice Christmas present for us entrepreneurs!

Can Additive Manufacturing Help You?

You may be familiar with the use of 3D printing processes to produce rapid prototypes from various materials such as starch and other polymers. Typically the parts produced are not very strong. However 3D printing can be applied to metals, ceramics and polymers to produce parts that are strong enough to be put into service under stress-producing conditions.

This process is known as additive manufacturing. Pratt & Whitney uses the process to produce vanes & blades for compressors in its jet engines. The process is used to produce hip implants. Boeing is even researching the ability to "print out" entire aircraft wings!

Additive manufacturing is still quite a bit more expensive than traditional methods of molding and machining, but could be useful to produce functional prototypes. It also could be useful to produce commercial quantities of parts that would be impossible to mold or very difficult to machine; for instance, parts with internal cavities or that have complex geometry, including interlocked parts that move relative to each other. You may be able to produce a single part using additive manufacturing that would otherwise need to be produced as two or more parts and later assembled. If so, the overall cost differential may be minimal.

Wikipedia has a good overview if you want to learn more about your options.