A federally funded online service helps small manufacturers find inventors with new technologies - and estimate their worth.
Process Equipment Co. had a fine history of innovation. Founded in 1946 by Emmert Studebaker, a member of the famous car-making family, PECo sold laser welders and other specialized equipment to GM and other manufacturers. That brought in dependable revenues of $40 million a year.
But demand for PECo's products dropped as GM declined, and last year the Tipp City, Ohio-based firm was forced to lay off a third of its employees. More cuts would come unless PECo could figure out how to adapt its machines to other industries.
Hiring a research firm to do the job would cost $100,000 -- way out of PECo's price range. Now, for just $2,000, PECo can turn to the USA National Innovation Marketplace. In May the Department of Commerce's Manufacturing Extension Partnership teamed up with entrepreneur Doug Hall to offer the service to small businesses. Hosted at Hall's Web site, Planet Eureka, the marketplace matches inventors with manufacturers.
It's too soon to say whether such matchmaking will work in the small company world. But the National Innovation Marketplace has no shortage of ideas waiting to be picked up. Among them: a food packaging film made from edible soy protein, said to help protect ready-to-eat food from dangerous bacteria; a drug designed to prevent and cure osteoporosis in a single dose (the research predicts that commercialization will take up to 10 years); and a "supersaver dream sander" that eliminates dust when sanding drywall.
Visit www.jurislawgroup.com for related content and http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/09/smallbusiness/innovation_marketplace.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2009091013 for the full story.
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