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The Lambert Review Of Business-University Collaboration, published in December 2003 looked at the relationship between industry and academia in scientific research and commercialisation of that research. It broadly supports the Government’s approach to ‘third stream funding’ which promotes knowledge transfer. The amount of money spent by UK companies on research and  development (R & D) is low compared with other industrialised nations: about $410 per person compared with $700 per person in France and $1300 in the USA.

There are barriers to commercialising university IP, including lack of clarity on ownership in research collaboration and in the variable quality of university technology transfer offices. Universities perform well by international standards in science and technology. There has been a marked change of culture, with many universities casting off their ivory tower image and playing a much more active role in their regional and national economy. But, there had been too much emphasis on spinouts over the last decade compared with licensing fend other forms of commercialisation).

The Internet provides many sources of legitimate help for the budget inventor. There are several websites and resources that are absolutely free. The first is the United Inventors Association, a non-profit organization that was formed in 1990 for the sole purpose of educating and providing resources for independent inventors. While there is a fee to actually join the UIA, there is a wealth of free information available to any visitor to their website, www.uiausa.org. They offer free articles about various stages and aspects of inventing, lists of resources, legislative updates affecting independent inventors, free newsletters, brochures, and products to help independent inventors, recommended books, and service providers. They offer advice on how to avoid the invention scam companies. Additionally, the UIA lists the legitimate inventor seminars and workshops that are scattered about the country. Many of these seminars and workshops, while not entirely free, are reasonably priced. Most of them allow visitors to peruse the booths manned by other inventors for no charge at all. The more networking you can do with other inventors, the better. You never know when another inventor you meet will have exactly the right information or know a person you should contact who will expedite the entire process for you.

Discount coupons for three of the United Inventors’ Association’s most popular books are available in the back of this book.

Inventor clubs can provide the resources, encouragement and contacts you will need as you move your product to market. The clubs are often populated with inventors who have successfully navigated the idea-tomarket maze. They are willing to share their experiences and the expertise they have gained along the way. The knowledge the members of these organizations share can help you to avoid many of the pitfalls in inventing.

It can also shorten the length of the process by teaching you the shortcuts they have learned. The inspiration club members offer can be as important as anything else can for keeping a new inventor motivated. Inventing is often discouraging, and just knowing a living, breathing person, not unlike yourself, who has invented successfully, can provide the encouragement you need to see you through the discouraging times.

Some of the successful inventors who belong to their local inventor support groups have licensed their products, others have chosen to build a business around their inventions, and still others have chosen countless other options such as catalog or infomercial sales for their products or patents. These individuals belong to the local inventor clubs because they wish to share their knowledge with others who are seeking success with their inventions.

When we received the Notice of Allowance for our first patent, meaning that we would be awarded the patent, and were able to obtain a license agreement, that all changed. Our licensee was immediately able to place Ghostline® in all of the stores we had coveted, and more. Our new product had immediate nationwide distribution. If we had continued to manufacture and distribute the product ourselves, we would never have obtained that level of success.

The more of the above-listed criteria your invention meets, the greater are your chances of success. This does not mean that if it does not meet all of these criteria your product cannot be successful; it just means it is not as likely. For example, an expensive item that is a one-time purchase can be a successful invention if the potential market is large enough.

Inventors who are operating on a shoestring budget would be well advised to seriously consider each one of the listed criteria. Among your many great ideas, maximize your chances of success and minimize the likelihood that you will spend money unnecessarily by carefully choosing the idea that will require the least amount of cash outlay with the greatest potential for commercialization.

In simple terms, your portfolio should reflect your personality as a saver, investor, and speculator. Pure savers will want all their money in savings instruments, pure investors will want it all in investments, and pure speculators will want it all in speculations. Most of you, however, will want to have some money in two or all three types of investments. The only way to determine amounts is to watch how different ratios affect your emotions.

For example, retirees are sometimes advised to have five years of living expenses in savings instruments. They can then place the rest of their money in investments and speculations. However, many retirees are unhappy with the low returns from savings instruments. Being more investors than savers, they will cut down to one year or even a few months of savings instruments and put the rest in investments. This will increase both their returns and happiness.

Other retirees will not want anything in investments. They will only be comfortable with everything in savings. While they may start retirement with five years of savings, eventually they will have twice their life expectancy in savings.

Undeveloped land is for optimists. The idea is to buy the land, do absolutely nothing, and then cash out at a huge profit.

Overconfidence is an issue. The factors that will increase or decrease the value of your land are not predictable. Raw land has many uses or none.

The person who sold it to you knew more about the prospects than you do and he wanted out. The Realtor wanted you in as she collected a nice commission.

Laziness is another issue. Extensive research is required to prevent a huge loss. Land in a flood zone or on a fault line may be worthless. Welllocated land that cannot be subdivided into marketable lots has no value.

Environmental contamination has ruined millions of acres. Even if your land has none of these problems, you are powerless over the factors that will increase the value of your dirt. Cities grow in unpredictable directions and fall into recessions, depressions, even ghost towns. Vacation spots are hot and cold. Farm uses are not predictable. Meanwhile, taxes must be paid and assessments can come without warning. In addition, you have to keep the mortgage current, if you were able to find one.

Currently, farmland is of interest because the returns are not correlated to the returns on U.S. stocks. Watch for overconfidence. Lack of correlation with U.S. stocks is only a good thing if returns are at least as high as inflation.

Many speculators currently believe that farmland, crops, and livestock are about to turn up for a sustained period. They argue that farmland is disappearing at a rate of a million acres a year as the cities and population grow. Demand will increase and supply will dwindle. However, other speculators are selling out. They believe that supply will grow faster than demand as agricultural technology improves and cheap imports flood the market.

They also see farm profits being squeezed. On one side, high-tech seeds are becoming more expensive, energy costs are rising, and fertilizers are more expensive. On the other side, processors and consumers pay lower prices and a fluctuating dollar hurts overseas sales.

No one knows for sure how this speculation will work out. That is why it is a speculation. Historically, overconfident speculators have lost on farms.

The most common farm scenario is this: Your grandparent or parents grew up on a farm. You live in the city and enjoy it. You have inherited the farm, either alone or jointly with your brothers and sisters. The farm has not produced a profit in years. The rent for the farmhouse just covers the expenses.

The lease on the land is tied to profits from the crops or trees. Most years, there are no profits. Measuring your return against what you could have gotten in stocks, bonds, or commercial real estate would show how poorly you have done. But you do not measure your return against any benchmark. This is all fine as long as you remain in denial. As long as sentimental attachment works for you, stay with it. Once it breaks down, you will realize that investing in farms, livestock, and crops is rank speculation.

Farmland, ranch land, livestock, and live crops have not kept pace with inflation since the Industrial Revolution. Periods of shortage and high prices are quickly followed by excess and prices below cost. With a few exceptions, only government support keeps farms and ranches viable at all. Small, self-sufficient farms — Amish communities, for example — are thriving in a modest way. For most farms and ranches, though, prospects are bleak.

What happened was extraordinary. RELP returns were piddling in the mid-1980s. Investors were told that they had paid too much attention to tax deductions; they needed to focus on deals that made economic sense. Promoters produced charts showing rising rents and property values and sold new RELPs. Then prices plummeted. By the early 1990s, most partnerships were bankrupt. Underneath the tax deductions and the economic sense, the real cause of all the losses was discovered. The general partners and promoters extracted huge fees from RELPs in their pursuit of high-leverage strategies. All profits and most of the investors’ capital contributions were plundered. While the  romoters became multimillionaires, the investors took incredible losses. Promoter greed can turn a solid investment into a sure loser.

Today, RELPs remain tainted as speculations. Limited partners have no control over general partners’ actions and compensation. Tax benefits were eliminated.

As real estate again takes on importance as an investment of choice, RELPs are sure to reappear. Promoters will see another opportunity to legally steal millions. Overconfident speculators are sure to believe it will not happen again, or at least, it will not happen to them.