Dissecting the Role of Protectable Intellectual Property in Financing Nanotech Firms

During the recent decades, nanotechnology remarkably has gravitated scientific and industrial societies towards itself both in developed and developing countries. However, there exist numerous challenges with which the nanotechnology as an emerging industry has been faced in financing its products and applications in developing countries. In fact, there is little available financing for techno-entrepreneurs in these countries. The challenges mainly are derived from the improper infrastructure and channels for financing new technologic ventures. The inevitable result of such a deficiency is a significant slowdown in the development of the emerging technologies. In respond to these shortcomings this paper attempts to discuss the ways of financing nanotechnology firms as one of the most important part of the nanotechnology business. Our argument will be narrowed to the implications of intellectual property-backed financing for nanotech firms and the roles they play in facilitating financing process for these firms. We will explain that intellectual properties (IPs) can indirectly facilitate the process of fund raising at least in four ways: proving marketability and superiority of firm’s products, protecting initiatives and know-how, facilitating access to debt capital, and reducing financing costs. We will also give details about the mechanisms which IPs can be directly embedded into them and provide means for financing nanotech firms. In this line we will analytically introduced intellectual property loan, IP sale and lease back, and IP-backed securitization. Even though these mechanisms have unassailable roles in financing nanotech firms, they are still struggling by some challenges to be more effective particularly in developing countries like Iran. In this respect, we will address some of the most considerable challenges including lack of a standardized and practical IP valuation method, relatively high cost of using some IP-backed instruments, lack of adequate legal framework to protect IPs and little knowledge of borrowers and investors about the IP protection and management.

کلیدواژه ها:

Intellectual Property ، Technology Financing ، Nanotech Firms