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With the IP in the semi sector increasing at a dramatic rate do you think SemiWiki would be a good place for an IP exchange. Proprietary IP could be bought, cross licensed, traded, sold or pursued on a collaborative basis. I feel SemiWki as a world wide, real time, open and neutral platform could be the ideal place for an exchange. Options could be posted and pursued on a private off site private basis between interested parties. This could be of benefit to everyone from major company, to brokers, to independents. I feel this could be a significant step in advancing the industry. Postings could be on an annon or name basis as needed. Any comments, suggestions and opinions pro or con wanted.
I deeply appreciate your response and checked out the links and they don't seem to cover the subject of IP transfer to areas outside the semi industry or coming from outside into the semi industry. I should have elaborated on this from the beginning for I feel this is where the biggest potential is. There is much IP out there that both the semi world and the world outside could benefit from the cross transfer of. I feel from the brief read and searches I did, that this area is thinly covered at best. Two examples I can think of are Xerox and HP. Both have massive IP that is grossly under utilized and in the case of HP to the point of the company really suffering for their lack of realizing the value of their IP applications to 3d printing until the point even if they use it, it is now greatly degraded in value and this is but one example. Xerox PARC is the best of example in history of grossly under estimating the value of IP and their organization, customers, stock holders and the world in general have all suffered for it even though the technologies did get out there by Apple, Microsoft and others. If Xerox had really fully utilized the IP they had, with the financial and business strength they had at the time, the progress of their IP would have been far faster and far deeper, with less glitches to begin with. I suffer from it myself and am embarassed that I didn't do a more thorough background search and elaborated on this point from the beginning. I am a generalist and with the broad view I see this happening in a almost all industries, presenting staggering opportunities all around amd companies missing opportunities, just like Xerox and HP. I have listened to Meg Whitman and feel she is one executive who really gets it. Thank you for your input and hopefully I will learn from it and do better in the future. I have a saying "One is either growing or dying" , I hope to be growing until the day I die. Thank You for the thoughtful input, it represents the best of the SemiWiki community.
I don't see this working out. The main reason for hefty IP fees is the support provided with the IP. I don't see the SemiWiki blogging platform where the bloggers can write about the progress in the semiconductor industry and from time to time ventilate their opininions and frustrations. The readers can then give (grumpy) comments.
For being an IP broker the bloggers will need to be transformed into sale and support people and I don't think that is wanted or that even the blogger want that - at least I would not.
I agree completely, if set up for comments, it would strictly be a listing with brief description with wanted, sell, mutual collaboration sections. This would be an information only section that would not even list the result for competition reasons. The only figures that would show would be number of views to indicate interest, not even the number of actual contacts. This would also be open to non members for people looking to take technology to another industry. Further comments and thoughts on this welcome. The current system does not work on extending technology outside the semi industry of which there is a huge amount.
My suggestion would be to create an open "IoT IP Exchange" forum which all SemiWiki members can post and reply to, no bloggers required. Making it IoT would give it focus. Making it open would create diversity. What I would like to see is a place for independent designers with IP to offer for sale or trade and for designers in need of IP to interact. Hopefully it will include conversations on what IP needs to be developed for emerging markets etc...
Dan, I think that's a good starting point. I was hoping there is some way of extending the deep and broad IP base of the semi industry to companies outside the semi industry. Just in processing of metals of all types at a microscopic levels, the semi industry I feel has a large untapped opportunity to leverage its IP to several other industries. Ideally, the ultimate goal is to have a two way street for IP in and out of the semi industry. IOT might be the best way to start and a critical way of keeping SemiWiki the go to resource. It ties into mems which I feel will rival processing/memory in importance to the semi industry. This is a first effort to clean up my writing that had become far to sloppy. I have taken comments on this to heart and thank everyone for bringing it to my attention. Any comments and suggestions are not only welcome, but appreciated.
Dear Sam, Thank you for the link and there are othes like it, that's just one part of the equation. The key part is getting people/industry to use it to its full potential, just like the net. Much of the IP is grossly under leveraged and not even out there. Until people realize handling and dealing with IP is a whole seperate skill set, this problem will continue. The amount of under leveraged IP out there right now is extremely large and growing everyday. Putting the right IP in the right hands so it can be fully utilized is the key. This is especially true of IP that can only be fully put to use if it is used in several different industries in ways many have not even considered. This is going to take people with the vision to see well beyond what is being done right now. I know from the vision of the founders of SemiWiki and the unique culture of the SemiWki community that this is the best place to start. I agree with Daniel Nenni that IOT is one of the best places to start, since it covers such a broad spectrum of applications. This goes well beyond any one person and requires an entire community. I know the SemiWiki community is the best place to start.
There is a large gap between "grossly under-leveraged IP" and IP that delivers value in an exchange. There is clearly a large amount of SIP inside of chip design and development companies. But making it available to 3rd parties entails more than a clearing house. SIP has to be licensed and packaged for reuse. It has to support the customer's design, test and integration methodologies. The most compelling SIP is complex, comprising digital code, verification support, GDSII blocks with all the requisite documentation and characterization, software, hardware, etc. Packaging a complex SIP solution is a lot more complicated than posting a description on eBay.
On the other side, IP has to provide value to the owner / seller. Exchanges remove inefficiencies in the market, but that is also closely related to profits. Providers of complex SIP are not in a rush to see it commoditized. Exchanges can also improve information - and this could be an opportunity for SemiWiki - if there is focus and momentum on a segment not already served by SIP resources like Design Reuse, Chip Estimate, EDA Cafe, etc.
Just an example:
By using IoT, somehow I make a jewelry ID tracking framework. All the diamonds now can be traced with their holder's embedded chip.
So could you advice me what should I do in semiwiki? Thanks.
Sam, Like I have said before, there is a very, very large amount of IP that could be used in other areas especially in materials when it comes to doping, layering, CVD, and changing and tweeking properties. I haven't been thinking of semi design in this at all, but all the other technologies that could have multiple uses. From just about any research facility I have been in there has always been a lot of multiple use technology unused. One conpany that has mastered developing multiple uses for technology thought useless is 3M. Like the glue that doesn't stick for post it notes. There is a lot of different technologies that go into semis than digital and analog design and even some of that could prove multiple uses. It's time to think outside the box on IP and learn to maximize its potential.
There are platform like D&R where IP is already listed. Also if anyone search any IP in google it is high chance that website of relevant vendor will be shown in search result.
What is missing today is independent third party assessment on the IP quality. But for that one needs to build infrastructure to assess the IP quality and more than that needs to build credibility in the market so that both customer and vendor have trust on that
I think this is a great idea. An discussion forum will allow IP buyer to know feedback of other customers and corresponding vendor response. This will definitely help potential buyer.
But I feel you can not keep it fully open, you need to create some kind of access restriction. Neither IP vendor nor the buyer will want every body to see their conversation due to confidentiality reason. They will definitely want to control over the viewer of the discussion
I think this is a great idea. An discussion forum will allow IP buyer to know feedback of other customers and corresponding vendor response. This will definitely help potential buyer.
But I feel you can not keep it fully open, you need to create some kind of access restriction. Neither IP vendor nor the buyer will want every body to see their conversation due to confidentiality reason. They will definitely want to control over the viewer of the discussion
I agree but this is what TSMC does. They do a complete silicon verification of all IP with the IP9000 program. TSMC and Atrenta also have a soft IP qualification program:
Instead of discussion forum for IP, I think it may be more fruitful if discussion forum/ micro site is created for different domains under semiconductor. The domain can be standard wise (like HDMI, PCI-E etc) and/ or application wise (like IoT, mobile processor etc). People can discuss about not only IP but also other products which are applicable to that domain like protocol analyzer, specific EDA tool etc.
Semiconductor is a vast area and SemiWiki has grown to a significant level within few years. As a result the amount of articles, discussions getting published in SemiWiki per day is increasing. It is high time that some kind of segmentation is done so that reader can move to his articles/ blogs/ discussion as per his area of interest. Also companies will be more willing to participate as they know they are able to target more right set of reader in those microsite
