DISQUS

VentureBeat: An interview with Rearden’s Steve Perlman on investing in R&D

  • Michael F. Martin · 1 year ago
    "You figured start-ups would focus on something fundamental, like Intel did. That sort of product takes a lot of money and years before it can come to market. That kind of venture money isn’t around anymore."

    Hmmm... Could the weakening of patent rights have something to do with the dwindling of R&D funding? Since Bayh-Dole Act was passed in 1980 the universities have had a comparative cost advantage in doing R&D; but university tech-transfer office employees don't have the kinds of incentives that private companies can offer to keep the R&D pipeline flowing at full capacity.

    First Congress and now the Supreme Court have been swayed by the whining from large publicly traded companies about "patent trolls."

    All you software engineers who whined about patents in the late '90s get ready to pack your bags. In another few years, all the R&D is going to be in China and India unless we tighten up our patent laws and large publicly-traded companies start paying fair value for R&D.
  • Ajay Jain · 1 year ago
    I can't help agree wholeheartedly with all the stuff printed here. Steve has been fortunate and has done well to be the "soul" of Rearden.

    It is true that innovation like many human endeavours has its ebbs and tides. There is a strange nurture-destroy relationship between innovation and large corporations. Whereas on the one hand innovation causes a corporation to grow, on the other hand, the same corporation once large, starts generating resistance to innovation. No large corporation will admit it, but if some measure for resistance to innovation be developed (it is not all that tough), the results would be for all to see.

    Keep at it, Steve.
  • edhardy622 · 2 months ago
    British law student sues Abercrombie-Fitch for disability discrimination.
    http://www.abercrombieshop.us
  • edhardy622 · 2 months ago
    British law student sues Abercrombie-Fitch for disability discrimination.
    http://www.abercrombieshop.us