Form Follows Function

yet2.com´s TechPak format captures, organizes, and delivers technology information with new efficiency
yet2.com´s familiar technology listings are changing. The new TechPak format is an integrated approach to organizing information about licensable technologies and presenting that information to interested parties. "TechPak is a major addition to the yet2.com Web site," said Ben DuPont, yet2.com President. "Its adoption represents a strong commitment on the part of our partners and clients."

Click to see page samples.

The TechPak Listing Standard (TechPak) is the result of almost a year´s worth of analysis, consultation, and co-development with a global consortium of leading companies from a variety of industries. It´s designed to:

• Provide a common internal platform for the documentation of technologies and their applications, and simplify the process of knowledge collection within the organization.
• Help describe marketable technologies in a licensing-friendly way, and without using "patenting language." yet2.com has maintained since its inception that patents -- by intention -- protect and conceal technologies rather than provide the information that other companies require to make a licensing decision. With 90% or so of most companies´ R&D going unexploited, a new way of describing technologies needed to be created. The TechPak format enhances the technology description style that yet2.com has already established.
• Find a way to make the technology descriptions more accessible to those companies and individuals interested in buying or licensing technology. The TechPak format clearly organizes the information about the technology for quality of presentation.

yet2.com´s technology listings have been a great success, responsible for bringing many companies together to negotiate licensing arrangements that otherwise might never have found -- or even heard of -- each other. The original technology listings were a first-generation answer. They were valuable, but they were demanding to create, lacked sufficient graphic information for many types of technologies, and required close reading on the part of the prospective licensor.

The TechPak format changes all that.

Since March, visitors to the yet2.com Web site have been able to download the "new listing form" -- the input side of the TechPak. By the end of May, yet2.com users will begin seeing the output side of the TechPak as the site revises listings automatically, and clients edit their on-line materials to take advantage of the TechPak format.

Meet the TechPak Format
There are three parts to using and handling the TechPak format.

• The TechPak display -- Thoroughly describes the technology, and can include illustrations, animations, and the additional files that prospective licensors need to come to a licensing decision.
• The TechPak form -- A Microsoft® Word 2000 document that contains the fields technology providers need to complete to describe their technologies. Some fields offer pull-down lists from which to choose, others offer free-form text entry that allows authors to use the full formatting and functionality of Word.
• Check in and check out -- Authors upload and check in their TechPak forms, which appear -- as usual -- in the My Drafts list (or Action List). If the author wants to edit a listing, the author first checks out the TechPak form, makes changes, and then checks it in again. All editing takes place off-line, where the form can be circulated freely around the organization for approvals.

Adopting the TechPak

yet2.com and R&D industry leaders define the TechPak as a standard for listing unlicensed technologies on the Internet. Here is what some prominent authorities in intellectual property have said.

A Display Designed to Convey Information -- Not Hide It

The display side of the TechPak offers a unique perspective on how to explain technologies in a licensing-friendly manner.

Easier Listing Preparation with TechPak Form

The input side of the TechPak is an automated Word document with Help delivered via the Internet. The TechPak combines the author´s input with information about the author´s organization already entered by the organization´s Administrator.

Simplified Administration with TechPak

The off-line TechPak form allows circulation within the organization for necessary approvals. Check-out/check-in form handling assures version control during editing. A simplified Administration page acts as the central control panel for the organization´s listings.