Access Ventures

Data-Star. This is Europe s leading on-line database service (39) and covers worldwide business news, financial information, market research, trade statistics, business analysis, healthcare / pharmaceuticals, chemicals / petrochemicals, chemical industry, biomedicine /life science, biotechnology, and technology, with an emphasis on Europe. It was originally formed as a joint venture among BRS, Predicasts, and Radio Suisse (the Swiss telecommunications company) (37). Data-Star offers access to about 300 bibliographic, abstract, directory, and fuU-text on-line databases, of which approximately 150 are also available on Dialog (40). 

The overall competitiveness of the industries in Europe, Japan and the USA can be regarded as equivalent. But the better access to venture capital in the USA, and also in Canada, can give these countries an advantage, especially in developing innovative small and mediumsized companies. 

While Affymetrix s early entry into the DNA microarray market afforded it a formidable position, the company has competitors. In order to commercialize the in situ array, it became clear that access to certain intellectual properties, especially the Southern patent (Oxford Gene Technologies or OGT), was required. Affymetrix obtained a license through a business relationship with Beckman Coulter which originally held the first and exclusive Southern license and later relinquished its exclusivity. Beckman Coulter and Affymetrix entered into a joint venture with Array Automation LLC to automate the processing of Affymetrix chips. Now that license to the Southern technology is available from OGT, others are permitted to commercialize in situ microarrays by alternative chemical S5mthesis approaches. 

Current research ethics do not adequately address the issue of international research on the diversity of the human genome. Under current research standards, this research will widen the gap between developed and underdeveloped countries. New ethics standards for this research should frame this research so the market value of property rights from such research fosters the development of research institutions, a scientific workforce, and access to investment and venture capital within underdeveloped countries. The 1992 CBD offers just such a foundation. 

The Chinese chemical market is attracting huge foreign direct investments. Between 1993 and 2003, investment projects amounted to around EUR 20 billion of contractual FDI, with Bayer, BASF, Shell, and BP the four biggest investors. Over the last ten years, five percent of foreign direct investment was into the chemicals sector. Multinational corporations (MNCs) tend to enter via joint ventures partially driven by the need for feedstock access, but wholly foreign-owned enterprises will become more common following China s membership of the WTO. 

DSM s Venturing Business Development group continuously scans the horizon for innovative ideas outside the company in which we can invest, enabling us to access and make the best possible use of new technological developments and resources (2004). ... 

Intellectual property issues need to be addressed more effectively. In the past, collaborations typically involved a company and a federal laboratory. Simple assignments of the patents or provisions for the company to license the technology were adequate. The DOE cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) Subject Invention definition can confuse intellectual property ownership. Today, the collaborations may involve several partners, the results may be used by joint ventures, or even more-creative business structures may need access to the intellectual property developed by the collaboration. Increased flexibility on how this property is managed is a key issue for the future. 

Corporate venture funds to gain access to high potential ideas and deals from outside the company. 

Corporate venture funds are venture capital funds financed pardy or entirely by industrial companies. They are ideally managed using the same financial criteria as venture capitalists would apply but, in addition, they have a strong relationship with their industrial investors. The startups funded then benefit from the investors industry knowledge, while the industrial investors not only receive a financial return but also better information from the market to use in external and internal investment decisions. They can provide access to new technologies and allow companies to build an external network by, for example, cooperating with a number of different startups. This has given some corporations access to important deals in return for a relatively small investment. 

An international listing and depository would help, to be sure, but the world situation would indicate that there is much to be desired where international cooperation is concerned. Such international cooperation is not too much to hope for, but immediate success in such a venture is not likely. It is apparent that thesis literature seldom appears in bibliographies appended to research reports because academic dissertations are not readily accessible even in this country. The academy of science of an individual country may be able to help in tracing theses. It is well to be aware of the activities of the academies in various countries. In 1956, A. Vucinich, San Jose State Gollege, described the Soviet Academy of Sciences which had been reorganized with the aim of centralizing scientific research (16). 

Always a high risk industry, hydrogen companies have become even harder to keep afloat since a U.S. recession beginning in 2000 seriously limited access to venture capital and other sources of investment capital. Two chapters discuss hydrogen entrepreneurship in hard times, one by a leader of a company in the field and one from an academic specializing in industrial innovation. 

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