Much has been written about Xerox PARC, its legendary R&D legacy, and its inability to make money off their groundbreaking innovations. But what many people don’t know is that 10 years ago, it launched a new plan to turn research into dollars. This printed memory/logic circuit is the first fruit of the new plan.
According to Technology Review’s David Talbot, Xerox PARC’s big change began 10 years ago when CEO Anne Mulcahy realised the research division was in no position to generate revenues alone. Realising it wasn’t quite in the position to bring a product to market on its own, Xerox spun off
The buzzword attached to new era was “open innovation”; PARC’s researchers would now freely associate with the outside world to hone ideas and work out how to commercialize them. “When PARC spun out in 2002, open, collaborative innovation became, in essence, the business model for PARC,” says Lawrence Lee, currently PARC’s director of strategy. “But we’ve only figured out what that means in practice over the last couple of years.”
Getting those partnerships, however, wasn’t easy. Businesses were gunshy to licence a PARC patent or technology, and instead wanted them to present something that was ready for market, or close to it. So PARC looked at a technology it had been developing and found a development partner whose own work lined up with it’s own.
…in 2010 PARC formed a “co-innovation engagement” with Thinfilm, which was already making printed memory. The resulting prototype circuit was the first to combine both printed transistors and memory, according to PARC.
As a result, PARC now has deals with over 45 companies who will feature the printed memory/logic in their products. This tech will be used to measure shock impact and pressure in helmets or to keep tabs on temperature in food packaging. Additionally, companies have come calling on its other technologies, leading to the company generating $US60 million in revenue last year. In short, the future is bright for PARC. [Technology Review]
light487
Friday, December 23, 2011 at 3:59 PMIf history has anything to say about this, Apple will be using this technology in the home personal computer market before Xerox have anything
Kroo
Monday, December 26, 2011 at 7:27 PMDon’t blame Apple for Xerox’s fail. Apple gave them $100 million in shares to “share” in the PARC project. Xerox rejected everything PARC had designed re: computer GUI and mouse, saying they were in the copier business, not the computer business. Apple paid, they took what Xerox rejected, the rest is history!!!!!
MD
Saturday, December 24, 2011 at 1:16 AMAnd they will patent every specific application for it…….
cska
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 8:03 AMTo author: where do you have your information regarding those deals with 45+ companies from?
You refer to Technology Review, but there isn’t any mention of these deals there.