SEARCHING FOR GREEN: FUNDING OPTIONS TO ADVANCE INNOVATIONS

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, 2016 was a record year for international inventions, with 233,000 new international patent filings (1). In June of 2018, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office celebrated its 10 millionth patent (2). How do all those patents get changed into products and moved into the market? Even as communities and academia are increasing focus on supporting entrepreneurship, the process of commercializing technology remains a challenging and often costly endeavor, requiring outside capital. The good news is that there are a variety of sources of capital available for the most promising technologies. It's important to know where each type may fit in a funding strategy, as many take time to secure and are highly competitive. Fortunately, there are also steps start-ups can take to improve their chances of securing sufficient capital to transition their products into the market.