Technologies and the products created from them have Economic Value. Economic Value is the value of an asset (or service) derived from its ability to generate revenue or income. Technologies have intrinsic value since they are the core of the resulting products, and the products are the volume money makers for business, and that provide customers with the desired/needed capabilities.
Economic Impact is another matter. It’s defined as “a macroeconomic effect on commerce, employment, or incomes produced by a decision, event, or policy.”
Economic Impact defines and fuels the economic-ecosystem that builds up to support a specific business, and related endeavors. Economic impact isn’t just company revenue, but the flow-downs and leverage it applies. Companies see this all the time, and likely don’t realize it in those terms: when they choose to offer new products/services, they sometimes expand their organization calling for more jobs, office space, equipment, etc., and each of those has flow downs in other areas.
Case in Point: the University of Utah did a point-in-time analysis of spinouts from the university that licensed university-developed technology. To summarize, for the one year period studied: 98 companies were created, generating 5,937 jobs. The firms paid $358,673,041 in wages to those employees in the studied year. BUT, and this is a critical point, those 98 companies also caused the employment of over 9,800 employees in OTHER firms, with salaries totaling over $395 million, with an “Estimated Gross State Product Impact” (sales) of $1,199,371,972, and state tax revenue contribution of @ $76,584,625.
Today, there are literally tens of thousands technologies available for licensing from commercial, academic, and federal sources that can spur new products and even industries, and save product firms and NewCos significant time based on the level of maturity of those technologies. They’re not ideas: these technologies are ready for commercialization and creating that economic value. The technologies’ Licensors have already vetted the market potential and offer technologies that have real market potential, not wild guess or wish-based potential. Many technology licensors have ties to venture funding, marketing & sales support, and even technical development support that are hard to ignore. Furthermore, many licensors and their affiliates/partners can help a NewCo with a tax-advantaged head start that can conserve cash and facilitate bringing product to market, and even help capture first adopter/customers.
Small business is the engine of our economy as a whole. One company creates n-jobs, but that one company affects many other firms — its supply chain, so to speak. In our current domestic environment, there is MUCH emphasis on starting new firms for exactly this purpose: creating new jobs. As a whole, the small business “community” continuously hires more people than larger firms. A well-managed growth mode with stability versus a static stable business mode is the key.
Investors are there to support you. This avenue to product creation and market is real, and should be investigated if you are looking to develop a product and capture a piece of the future.