The Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation, a business incubator in Racine, has developed what is essentially a patent recycling program. The center - known by its acronym CATI - has gotten its hands on tens of millions of dollars worth of unused patents from companies like Kraft Foods Inc., S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. and Boeing Co. The group licenses those patents to entrepreneurs who start businesses. So far, the center has helped five companies get started.
The center won an award from the International Economic Development Council in 2006 for its work, and it recently signed a deal with the State of Delaware to assess patents from DuPont Corp. and Hercules Inc. in that state. Because of the loss of a federal tax break, the center now wants to act more as a broker, linking large companies that are carrying unused intellectual property with entrepreneurs.
Two recent examples of its work: Alliance Enterprises and Yokit Inc. Alliance is using technology developed at Kraft Foods to make cheese with reduced cholesterol. Yokit makes an instant yogurt that was first developed by S.C. Johnson.
The next step should be putting this good idea to work throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
"CATI is a very important resource," says Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, one of the groups pushing the Milwaukee 7 regional economic development effort. She told the Journal Sentinel's John Schmid that the CATI model can work well elsewhere in the region and that it should have a role.
The region doesn't lack for intellectual property. Waukesha County, in fact, produces as many patents or more than does Dane County, home to the state's powerhouse research university. But most of those ideas originate in private companies, such as GE Healthcare, rather within the labs of academic institutions.
The CATI model could be an important tool to unlock some of that creativity.