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CEICTM At-A-Glance
The Who, What, How, & Why

CEICTMAt-A-Glance

The Who, What, How, & Why

The Competitive Edge Innovation CenterTM (CEICTM) a collaborative initiative focused on bridging from key areas of opportunity, need and exposure in the innovation eco-system and IP regimes to high-impact outcomes ensuring (or restoring) competitive advantage and appropriability at the firm-level, for the macro-economy and in service of national security.

Our approach to innovation competitiveness:

Eco-System Based: Comprehending all the interconnected and interdependent domains where innovation and IP value is created, captured… or lost. Domains like technology, markets, regulatory and bridging across corporate, industry, and geographic boundaries.
Embrace An Impact-Imperative: Focusing broad eco-system understanding into specific high-impact, high-value outcomes to enhance innovation competitiveness: which necessarily includes both value-creation and value-capture.
Agile & Actionable: Adaptive, actionable solutions for real-world application and impact from innovation and IP assets.
Data-Driven: Collecting, synthesizing, and informed by real-world data.
Collaborative & Inclusive: Embracing private sector, academic and government principals – as partners.

By way of a snap-shot of who we are, what we do, and why we do it:

Inspiration & Urgency

Focus For Impact

CEICTM Approach

Dedicated to informing the dialogue and fostering collaboration between all eco-system stakeholders with the explicit objective of achieving actual high-impact innovation and IP outcomes.

Some exemplary innovation outcomes we're working to achieve:

Advance Emerging Technologies: Facilitating research and development efforts to achieve persistent competitive advantage for key technologies, and advance emerging technologies toward commercial outcomes.
Optimize Capital Allocation: Help foster and coalesce capital (public & private) allocation around the highest impact innovation and new business creation opportunities.
Informing Regulatory & Policy Discussions: Developing, analyzing and sharing relevant data to help spark, or inform regulatory and policy discussions in the innovation space e.g. R&D tax incentive and antitrust regulations.
Neutral Collaboration Platform: Provide a neutral venue for public and private sector actors to share information and collaborate to advance shared innovation objectives, that can then be used to advance actor-specific interests. An example of this might be developing a competitively advantaged AI/ML or semiconductor platform that can be leveraged into multiple non-competitive verticals/industries. Creating innovation "multiplier-effects" for firms and the nation.
Advance The Art: Helping to advance the data, analysis, theory and practice around innovation and its commercial expression – through research, collaborations, publications, conferences and fellowships.

Constantly innovating, especially in how we view and pursue innovation itself.

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
– Albert Einstein –

Inspiration & Sense Of Urgency
The Time Is Now

The stakes for innovation leadership are too high, and the time preserve that leadership too short for hesitation to be an option.

Inspiration

Innovation Drives…

Innovation drives… essentially everything. From the jet airplanes that take us from place to place physically, to the smartphones that transport us virtually. It brings the most distant stars in outer-space into view and lets us peer into the tiniest of atoms revealing an equally vast inner-space. More than just extend our sight, innovation expands our vision to imagine what could be, and inspires us to make it real.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, vaccine development times were measured in years. Yet, we developed and delivered extremely effective vaccines at breathtaking (perhaps here, breath-giving) speed for COVID-19 – in months, not years. The enabling innovation, messenger RNA (mRNA). An "overnight success". Yet, like so many other innovation "overnight successes" – think semiconductors and the internet – mRNA technology, first discovered in the 1960's, needed to mature over decades through dedicated research and (public & private) innovation investment. In countless visible – and invisible – ways, the constant flow of innovation touches and transforms every aspect of our lives.

A vibrant, expanding innovation eco-system also has the power to move markets, expand economies and elevate nations. And as a nation, the US has benefited enormously from being at the forefront of innovation, enjoying decades as the largest and most successful economy in the world. In myriad and meaningful ways, innovation helped foster this period of unprecedented national prosperity and security.

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
– Alan Kay –

Urgency

The Time Is…

As global competitive pressures increase, the "rise of the rest" and our own inattention have blunted the US innovation competitive edge in many key innovation areas. Eclipsed. The US is now routinely outspent by nations (as percentage of GDP) and by foreign firms (as percentage of revenue) in essential R&D investment. The intellectual property (IP) assets that protect those innovations face similar competitive pressure – though largely self-inflicted. Once the home of the premier IP system, the US spent over a decade in the throes of a counter-competitive IP rights from the legislature and the courts.

A standout among competitor nations, China suffers no such lack of attention and explicitly embraces innovation – and a newly robust IPR national regime to protect it – at a national level as a foundational driver of its continued global rise. China's national R&D spend eclipsed that of the European Union (EU28) in 2016 and is now second only the USA (at roughly 85% of the US total gross domestic R&D investment @ PPP). China's national patent office also surpassed the US Patent & Trademark office as the largest filing jurisdiction for patents.

And so, from its once lofty number one position in Bloomberg's annual "Innovative Index" of the world's most innovative nations a decade ago, the US has steadily slipped, and last year the US dropped out of the top ten for the first time ever[Cite]. Yet another in a growing litany of alarming signs that the state of our US innovation eco-system and IP regime demand attention. Now.

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing."
– Leonardo da Vinci –

Focus For ImpactTM
From Breadth To Depth

Bringing focus to a holistic innovation eco-system approach in relentless pursuit of high-impact innovation outcomes and attendant high-value IP assets.

Focus-For-Impact

Focus-For-ImpactTM

Moves The Needle For Innovation & Nations

Keenly focused on our impact-imperative and creating high-value innovation outcomes, CEICTM fosters emerging technologies to create high-value innovation opportunities and fortifying IP asset positions. By design, our Focus-For-ImpactTM initiatives drive outcomes that advance (or remediate) competitive positions in innovation domains essential for future prosperity and security like AI/ML, Semiconductors, Robotics & Synthetic-Biology (Syn-Bio) – moving the needle for innovation impact, value and competitiveness.

Our current Focus-For-ImpactTM Initiatives Include:

Focus Innovation Eco-Systems

Select High-Impact And High-Leverage Eco-Systems Of Focus Including AI/ML, Semiconductors, Robotics & Synthetic-Biology (Syn-Bio).

[ More ]

Rising To The China Challenge

Context & Leverage-Analysis For Navigating To Opportunity & Avoiding Jeopardy Resident In China's Innovation Eco-System: Firm-Level & Macro-Level.

[ More ]

Innovation-AlphaTM

Optimizing Innovation Investment Returns Through Opportunity DiscoveryTM & Innovation Offset StrategiesTM & Robust Monetizable IP Assets.

[ More ]

Cross-Domain Research

Areas Of Cross-Cutting Research, The Technology-Independent Drivers Of Innovation Impact Including Capital Allocation, Policy & IPR Regimes.

[ More ]

Enter CEICTM

Competitive Edge Innovation CenterTM

Enter CEICTM

Competitive Edge Innovation CenterTM

Enter, the Competitive Edge Innovation CenterTM (CEICTM). Dedicated to bridging from key areas of opportunity and exposure in the innovation eco-system to targeted innovation outcomes that increase its capability, flexibility, and value-creation. And, equally important, ensuring follow-on value-capture through productization, monetization (e.g. IP licensing or enforcement) and national security.

CEICTM takes an explicit eco-system approach, comprehending not "just" technology, but also other facets that drive (or inhibit) innovation progress: the linkages and dynamics between markets, capital, intellectual property, policy, culture (corporate & national), and firm formation. Fortifying those innovation positions with robust IP assets – across national jurisdictions – helps secure and amplify Schumpeterian Rents (returns to the innovator) necessary to continue the virtuous cycle of innovation. And so, IP regimes figure as prominently at CEICTM as they do in innovation eco-system.

The innovation challenge doesn't end at national borders, it grows. For example, as China adopts an increasingly adversarial mercantilist posture in the innovation eco-system and more broadly upon the world stage, countering the steady rise of its innovation capabilities becomes a national imperative, and so the challenges posed by China's innovation eco-system are also a central focus of CEICTM.

So, innovation and the IP assets that help protect it are in every sense an investment in our future, and an essential one. CEICTM helps amplify return on innovation investment through actionable strategies, partnerships and capital directed at creating predictable competitive advantage across the innovation eco-system at the firm-level, for the macro-economy and in service of national security.

To amplify its outcomes, CEICTM focuses on high-impact and emerging technology domains like AI/ML, Semiconductors, Robotics & Synthetic-Biology (Syn-Bio) that will shape the future, so that we can shape our own future. In addition to leading next-gen thinking, CEICTM actively fosters next-gen thinkers – through such programs as our fellowships, research, publications, and conferences.

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
– Steve Jobs –

A Rising Tide Of Innovation

Elevating Eco-Systems, Economies & Nations

Instead of trying to advance a single technology, business proposition or firm, CEICTM creates a strategy blueprint for raising the level of capability, impact potential, value-creation, and probability of success for all innovation activities within a focused innovation eco-system (e.g. AI/ML or Semiconductors). In doing so, CEICTM fosters a "rising tide" proposition for all principals, capabilities, investments, and resources in those key innovation eco-systems to amplify value-creation potential, hedge against (execution & competitive) risk, advance technology leadership and enhance national security.

"A rising tide lifts all boats."
– John F. Kennedy –
(via New England Council)

A Connected Eco-System

Every Link In An Essential Chain

Contrary to popular belief, innovation doesn't happen in a lab. Rather, it doesn't "just" happen in a lab. It's nurtured – or withers – in an eco-system. And, eco-systems are complex, potentially messy places, with myriad linkages and dependencies between myriad actors, technologies, and jurisdictions. Technology, people, capital, IPR, policy and markets comprise some of the more prominent links within an innovation eco-system. Interactions and dependencies between them influence the path and outcome potential of an innovation.

No strength arises from hardening a single link in an essential chain of events. So, instead of trying to advance a single technology, patent, business proposition or firm, CEICTM consciously takes an eco-system value-chain perspective on innovation. CEICTM focuses on a few select innovation eco-systems with the highest impact potential. Operating at that advantaged intersection of eco-system breadth and technology focus is the source of our unique contribution.

The goal, to move from a state where eco-system complexities and linkages constrain our innovation outcomes, to one where we leverage them to amplify innovation impact. Our holistic approach fosters all participants, capabilities, investments, and resources within a chosen innovation eco-system like AI/ML or Semiconductors. Every link in an essential chain.

The result, advantaged innovation outcomes that amplify value-creation potential, hedge against (execution & competitive) risk, advance technology leadership and bolster national security.

"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and preserve change amid order."
– Alfred North Whitehead –

Focus-For-ImpactTM Initiatives
From Breadth To Depth

Leveraging the unique benefits of our holistic innovation eco-system approach into focused initiatives designed to achieve specific competitive outcomes. Some of these targeted outcomes include increasing the efficacy of innovation capital investments and identifying pathways to advantage in the heightened innovation competition between the US and China.

Innovation Eco-Systems

Focus Areas & Multiplier-Effects

Balancing focus and breath is central to CEIC's ability to achieve our own enabling impact. Focused, in that we work on only a select few of the highest potential ecosystems like AI/ML and Semiconductors. And, breadth through our holistic eco-system approach – comprehending all of the interconnected facets of the eco-system that advance or inhibit innovation, like policy, markets and capital. Current candidate Innovation Eco-Systems Domains of interest include:

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning: AI/ML As An Eco-System Platform – As a powerful innovation domain of its own, and in support of other domains like Cyber-Security, Semiconductors, Robotics, IoT, Inverse-Design & Synthetic-Biology (Syn-Bio).
Semiconductors: Across the entire value-chain of semiconductors including materials, design & fabrication.
Robotics: Physical systems, controller HW & SW, Human-Computer Interface (HCI) along with integration with legacy business as well as novel business model development.
Inverse & Augmented Design: Development of novel approaches and implementations of AI/ML, statistics, optimization, and other analytical tools in service of advantaged design outcomes and creating entirely new functionality and products.
Synthetic-Biology (Syn-Bio): Range of potential application areas including Bio-Sensing, Drug-Discovery, Therapeutics, DNA Design and Custom/On-Demand Genomes.

By design, these Eco-System Domains are chosen to amplify the "multiplier-effects" (positive reinforcing dynamics) at their intersection. For example, recent Semiconductor advances helped extend the frontier of what's possible – and practical – in AI/ML, which is now essentially creating new innovation disciplines like Synthetic-Biology and Augmented Design. Some of the very same AI/ML capabilities like Augmented Design promise to usher in a completely new generation of Semiconductors. And, in turn, those next-gen Semiconductors continue advancing AI/ML capabilities.

A complementary, virtuous cycle, arising by nature and amplified through innovation strategy. Working in both domains simultaneously provides CEICTM unique insight into identifying and capturing those cross-domain synergies – another way CEICTM amplifies the impact of its innovation outcomes.

[Back To Focus-For-Impact Overview]

China's Innovation Eco-System

Navigating To Opportunity Through Challenge & Jeopardy

As a nation, China fully embraces innovation as key driver of its continued global rise. And that embrace reveals some of the unique contours of the Chinese innovation eco-system. China's hybrid market/command-economy style approach to innovation aligns national policy, operating companies (SOEs & private), capital (public and private), academia and economic initiatives in holistic service of advancing national innovation leadership. At a policy level, China's two most recent 13th and 14th Five Year Plans (FYP) feature innovation prominently as an explicit component of economic success. There are, of course, obvious (and not so obvious) limitations to a command-economy style approach to national innovation strategy. However, as proof of policy aspiration meeting practical reality: over the past five years China has increased its annual national R&D investment by 53% measured in dollars, essentially doubling the increase made by the US over the same period. China has also been steadily increasing its R&D spend as a percentage of GDP, up by 10.5% (from 2.022% GDP to 2.235% GDP) over the last five years. And, with China's annual GDP growth rate on average roughly 5% higher than the US over that period, the trajectory of China's innovation investment raises the competitive stakes even higher. And with that investment momentum, China has announced plans to move even more aggressively into key forward-looking areas like AI/ML and establish an entire domestic industry in semiconductors.

Resident Expertise
Featured Expert On Frontline Episode On China Innovation Competitiveness & Innovation

Determined to protect those innovations along with the market power they represent, China has also moved aggressively to fortify them with intellectual property (IP) positions – at home and abroad. Over the past decade China established a robust national intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement regime. A signal of its success, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) eclipsed the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) as the national office with the most annual patent filings and became the first office with more than one million patent filings. China's innovation ambitions extend beyond its borders, so it also stakes out competitive IP positions in key international markets. In 2020, China filed the most international patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), displacing the US, which had held that top spot every year since the PCT system was established in 1978. Fueled by its growing innovation capabilities, aggressive government patent subsidies also catalyzed China's rise as an IP power, essentially paying Chinese corporations to obtain patents. Combined, these efforts signal the growing market power resident in China's innovation eco-system, and the collective national desire to protect it.

Addressing the rise of China's innovation capabilities – and its growing innovation mercantilism – is a competitive imperative, and so it is also a central focus of CEICTM. Essential in this work, CEICTM dispels the myths, mis-perceptions and hyperbole attendant to China's innovation eco-system. Focusing instead on developing a deep objective understanding of its realities and future trajectory. One of the more uncomfortable realities is the explicit recognition that China (like many other nations, and the firms within them) is at once an adversary, competitor, co-dependent, collaborator, and opportunistic partner. The dynamics across this competitive spectrum vary and evolve across multiple dimensions: technology, industry, time and in response to changing circumstances. A principal objective of CEICTM is to help develop and deploy strategies for navigating China's evolving innovation landscape to persistent competitive advantage – at the firm-level and the national-level for key technology and industry domains.

[Back To Focus-For-Impact Overview]

Innovation-AlphaTM

Optimizing Innovation And IP Investment, Risk & Returns

In the investment community, we typically refer to an investment's ability to surpass the broader market, to beat the competition, as it's "edge", or its "alpha" (α). And, in a similar fashion, we talk about an investment's predictability (or lack of it) as its "volatility", or its "beta" (β). Scale (α) and predictability (β) of outcomes. Two simple investment concepts with profound implications for the ultimate impact and value of innovation and fortifying IP investments. The goal: predictable competitive advantage through high-impact, high-value innovations – as well as raise the probability of success and elevate the measure of value-capture from those investments.

Innovation is in every sense an investment in our future, and an essential one. Enter Innovation-AlphaTM. Innovation-AlphaTM designs actionable, agile strategies to achieve predictable competitive edge in both creating high-impact innovation outcomes and capturing high-value returns from their monetization. Embracing an "impact imperative", Innovation-AlphaTM aggressively focuses its strategic guidance across the innovation eco-system at the firm-level, for the macro-economy and in service of national security.

Innovation-AlphaTM's own competitive edge in designing strategies arises from a unique multi-dimensional analysis of the key drivers of value (creation & destruction) in the select innovation eco-system – and their complex interplay over time as the innovation, market, policy and competition evolve. Combined, these uniquely situate Innovation-AlphaTM to create and realize advantaged strategies for innovation investment, hedging against risk and optimizing returns. Commercial objectives on the buy-side/sell-side include M&A/SPAC, investment banking and private equity targets, venture capital, new business creation/start-ups, and at a finer granularity the transactional vehicles for achieving desired outcomes (e.g. IP licensing and enforcement).

Enabled by a unique portfolio of complementary capabilities, most powerful working in unison, but also effectively employed 'a la carte' depending upon the objective at hand:

Innovation Eco-System Understanding: A Contextual Landscape Of The Targeted Innovation Eco-System(s) – The Map.
Opportunity DiscoveryTM: Identification and design of optimal innovation outcomes – Choosing The Destination(s).
Innovation Offset StrategyTM: Strategies for achieving and maintaining asymmetric competitive advantage through the creation, acquisition, or divestiture innovation and IP assets (where "assets" includes corporations, divisions, products, technologies and/or IP positions) – Charting The Course.
Innovation ArbitrageTM: Optimizing The Liquidity Event: Strategic deal positioning and novel business model design to bridge across technology, industry, corporate, and national boundaries to identify and realize the optimal value-capture opportunity – Arrival.

[Back To Focus-For-Impact Overview]

"Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity."
– Michael Porter –

Cross-Domain Research Initiatives

Cross-Domain Research Initiatives Reaching Across Technology, Industry & National Boundaries

Reaching Across Technology, Industry & National Boundaries

CEICTM bolsters its innovation eco-system work by creating "orthogonal" research initiatives reaching across technology, firm, industry, and national boundaries. Each of these interlinked facets of the eco-system influence one another, and any potential innovation outcomes. So, CEIC consciously avoids a limiting "technology-in-isolation" approach to innovation by expressly including them in a more holistic approach to innovation and its commercial expression.

Current Cross-Domain Research Initiatives include:

Innovation Offset StrategyTM: Achieving persistent asymmetric advantage to extend and preserve technological leadership, and counter challenges from near-peer, peer, and especially from those with superior capabilities in certain technology domains.
Inside China's Innovation Eco-System: Opportunity, Challenge & Jeopardy: Identifying competitive advantage and compensatory strategies for competition with China's unique hybrid market/command economy driven innovation eco-system, along with the increasingly expansionist Chinese firms and capital. And, where necessary, divining safe and advantaged collaboration pathways for (and off-ramps from) limited cooperation as part of that longer-term competitive strategy.

A robust IP regime figured prominently in China's design for its innovation eco-system which implicitly couples innovation development and its commercialization. So, perhaps more than anywhere else, China demands a sophisticated international IP strategy (enabling, offensive & defensive), and one tightly integrated with innovation and commercialization strategy.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Regimes – Value Creation, Protection & Destruction: Comparative IPR analysis between major innovation economies to reveal opportunities, obstacles and compensatory strategies for achieving competitive advantage in innovation creation and monetization globally. Innovation and monetization impact arising from asymmetries between US and Chinese systems figure prominently in this line of inquiry.
Optimizing Innovation Capitol Allocation: Sources (private & public), allocation mechanisms and priorities in optimizing innovation funding at the firm-level and national level. Capital allocation dovetails our Innovation-AlphaTM initiative to optimize innovation investments and resulting outcomes: both technical and commercial.
Value-Chain Leverage Within Supply Chains: Looking at key national supply chains (e.g. 5G networks & Semiconductors) to identify where the greatest value (and jeopardy) is created to identify "leverage" and enhance the probability of success from innovation investment.

[Back To Focus-For-Impact Overview]

Eco-System Outreach
Connecting & Sharing With Our Eco-System

Outreach, education and collaboration in the spirit of advancing national and firm-level innovation outcomes.

Connecting With Our Eco-System

Partners, Collaborators & Information Sharing

Integral in our approach, and necessary to achieve the most impactful innovation outcomes, information sharing, and collaboration are key to our success. Join us in some of these collaborative efforts:

Conferences: Our inaugural innovation eco-system conference is in the works… stay tuned, or better yet, reach out with ideas, speakers and sponsorships.
Innovation Eco-System Fellowships: Fostering next-gen thinking and next-gen thinkers.
Innovation Pitch-Day & Entrepreneur "Bootcamp": An immersive "bootcamp" for entrepreneurs to learn about innovation and new business creation strategy.
Partner & Collaborator Network: Building, expanding, inviting a network of partners, contributors, collaborators and sponsors. Our micro "eco-system" focused on improving innovation outcomes and competitiveness.

"Innovation comes only from readily and seamlessly sharing information rather than hoarding it."
– Tom Peters –

Inaugural Innovation Eco-System Conference:

"New Cross-Border Innovation Realities: Competitive Implications & Opportunities"

Bringing together thought leaders from academia, private sector (start-ups, OpCos & capital community), and government to advance theory, practice, and policy for extending US innovation competitiveness. Identify several high-impact national innovation problems and/or opportunities with the objective of developing actionable strategy leading to specific innovation outcomes.

Coming Soon: Stay Tuned
Venue: TBD

Date: TBD

You may also be interested in some of our upcoming partner events:

Partner Event: Stay Tuned
Venue: TBD

Date: TBD

Innovation Eco-System Fellowships

Fostering next-gen thinking and next-gen thinkers. CEICTM Innovation Eco-System Fellowships are designed to perform ground-breaking new research on key drivers of innovation competitiveness and competition. An equally important aspect of the fellowships is to inspire and enable the next generation of thought leaders in the innovation space.

Current Fellowship areas include:

China's Innovation Eco-System – Alignment, Competition & Conflict: Examining China's innovation eco-system holistically as a national competitor, and ways to counter its "hybrid command-economy" style approach to directing, funding, and acquiring innovation – aligned with supporting policy, capital, and economic initiatives.
Value-Chains Within Supply-Chains: Looking at key national supply chains (e.g. 5G networks, medical supplies, etc…) to identify where the greatest value (and jeopardy) is created. Then, focus on the links promising to generate the largest (and/or quickest) asymmetric advantage or "leverage" from innovation investment and activity.
Dual-Use Innovation Eco-System: A Fellowship directed not at advancing a single technology or firm proposition, rather at identifying a blueprint for raising the level of capability, probability of success and impact potential within the broader dual-use innovation eco-system. [See full Fellowship description]

Innovation Pitch-Day & Entrepreneur "Bootcamp"

A "bootcamp" for entrepreneurs to learn about innovation and new business creation strategy with a focus on creating, embracing and leveraging eco-system capabilities in fundable ways. The bootcamp will culminate in a pitch session to various stakeholders in the chosen eco-system like investors and OpCos.

Building A Partner & Collaborator Network

A cornerstone of CEICTM is the direct connection with the innovation eco-system community: to ensure we're focused on the right issues and also to lay the groundwork for down-stream engagement on the solutions we co-create with those stakeholders.

Proud to share our current partner organizations:

Fulcrum StrategyTM

Innovation-AlphaTM

Your Name Here

Actively seeking partners and funding sponsors for CEICTM broadly, as well as for individual efforts such as the Innovation Competitiveness Conference and Innovation Eco-System Fellowship(s) in the following areas:

Technology & Research
Industry & Entrepreneurial
Capital Community
Academia
Government

Come Innovate With Us: Get Involved!

Find out how you can come innovate with us: Contact