Governments often sponsor research and development projects because technology innovation fuels economic growth and job creation. When Governments invest in these projects, the hope is that these R&D projects will have beneficial effects on their country’s economy and resources. These projects often create extremely valuable developments in life sciences, defense, energy, and many other industries.
However when governments perform these investments, they do not imagine those technologies being sold to investors or companies in other countries. A recent example of this is the proposed sale of the Lumileds unit of Royal Philips NV’s planned $2.8 billion sale to Chinese-led investors.
Lumileds received funding in approximately $17 million from the Department of Energy between 2008-2015 (according to USASpending.gov) to improve lighting technologies, and according to a Department of Energy release,
“DOE funding has been instrumental in the company’s emergence as an industry leader that has more than tripled its revenues in the past decade, reaching customers foreign as well as domestic with products that to date have saved billions in energy costs.”
By tracking sponsored research and development, Governments can evaluate how companies are benefiting from these investments and also ensure that confidential country secrets are not shared or sold to foreign investors.
ktMINE tracks intangible assets and innovation data for companies, universities, and governments. With this data, customers can:
- Monitor rumored and announced acquisitions to identify impacts to business, industry, and national security
- Monitor purchases of sensitive patented technologies
- Identify a company’s current intangible asset portfolio and investments in innovation
- Track the movement of intangible assets across borders
