I get asked by young #entrepreneurs what is the cost and the output of R&D activities and how long would it take to reach certain milestones? There is considerable variability in the amount of investment in R&D needed to generate a patentable #invention 1/7 🦋
When we started @Metamaterialtec with @timaras we found that #IBM spent about $6 billion on R&D in 2011 and generated 6,146 patents, implying an average R&D cost per patent of $976,000. At same year #Qualcomm, spent $2.3 billion on R&D and generated 1,000 patents, 2/7 🦋 
implying an average R&D cost per patent of $2.3 million. #DuPont spent $1.4 billion on R&D and generated 500 patents, implying an average R&D cost per patent of $2.8 million. Even when companies have access to this amount of cash, it takes several years to develop new tech 🦋 3/7
In 2019, a high % of unicorns especially US headquartered, had little or no patent protection. Few people know that 🇨🇳 has overtaken 🇺🇸 in patent fillings and even fewer that certain areas in 🇨🇳 would pay up to 50% towards a new patent filling for startups & companies! 🦋4/7
To paraphrase Newton: In #tech, if we can build further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giant inventors. 🦋5/7
Post-IPO #Twitter acquired more than 900 patents from IBM for $36 million effectively ending a dispute between them. Before its IPO #Snap acquired 149 patent families from IBM and Mobli for approx $17 million. Acquired patents account for 80% of Snap’s patent portfolio. 🦋6/7
A focused internal R&D effort does not guarantee success. But building a patent portfolio is a long-term focused #strategy. You don’t see the value immediately, in fact you see short-term cost, but in the long run you are better protected. 7/7 #GoBeyond 🦋metamaterial.com/intellectual-p…
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