RENEWABLOG

Could Green Patent Record Drive Cleantech VC Funding; M&A? Fuel Cells Dominate Patent Growth

Very interesting post yesterday from VentureBeat about how Cleantech & Green patents have hit a record, driven in large part by an explosion in Fuel Cell patents. That said, every sector was up save for wind. Solar patents, biofuel patents, etc. all saw big increases over Q2 of 2008 when the financing environment was healthier.

Schwartz represents a large patent and intellectual property firm, Finnegan, with an established Green industry practice, and we're guessing business has been pretty good for them and firms like them.

What does this mean? Well, we know that Cleantech and Green Venture Capitalists love patents since investing in companies without some legally enforced technical barrier to entry is seen as somewhat foolish. New technology development and a spike in patents could lead to an even bigger rebound in early-stage investing. And while the spike could have been driven in part by emerging-growth companies like Bloom Energy, it also points to the fact that large company R&D is likely increasing in cleantech, for example, automakers in fuel cells, GE and others in wind and smart grid, etc. It also could lead to future acquisitions of smaller companies with strong patent positions, by some of the larger companies in the market.

Many of these patent holders will also likely look for Department of Energy (DOE) grants and R&D grants from other government entities, in order to commercialize some of these technologies. This points to even more competition in the green public affairs world.

Overall, this is yet another sign that the cleantech financing environment and green PR noise will further rebound in 2010.

Posted by Jason Morris on August 27, 2009 at 12:10 PM
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