87
countries. To enable such a model and also advance its philanthropic aims, DuPont
Pioneer (now part of Corteva Agriscience) developed, in 2017, a joint licensing
framework with the Broad Institute of Harvard University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) to provide access to CRISPR-based gene editing
technologies in plant agriculture. Under the joint licensing structure, the parties
made their combined portfolio of over 40 patents available for free to support
research conducted by academics, governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations, as well as for the development of agricultural products destined to smallholder farmers, while also retaining the freedom to license their individual patent
portfolio to others. For other licensees, they apply financial terms that are adapted
to the licensees’ size and revenue prospects.
The long and arduous path that often accompanies the establishment of research
and commercial licensing agreements provides additional support for a more open
form of innovation. Early stage technologies are highly uncertain, and many remain
untested, either due to failure to reach a satisfying win-win situation during negotiations or simply because the negotiation process constitutes a hurdle that the parties
are not willing to face. As Fig. 3.1 shows, the likelihood of success of technologies
at a very early stage of development is, at best, slight. Settling for simpler, researchonly licensing relationships can open the floodgates that keep less mature technologies from being tested while deferring the negotiation of commercial terms to a time
when initial proof of concept is confirmed. Under a closed innovation mindset, such
technologies might never be tested. Though this approach might not be adequate for
all technologies, it represents an option that both sides of a negotiation might
consider.
A further reason for encouraging a more open form of collaboration and innovation is the highly interconnected and interdependent nature of technology developments among many participants in the agricultural technology development sector.
Technological and commercial developments rarely happen in isolation but rather
derive from the development of networks of agricultural technologies, in which
components interact and co-evolve to become increasingly interdependent. One of
the reasons for such interdependency is the establishment of separate dominant
designs, which create network externalities, complementing each other and lowering the costs of absorbing and mainstreaming new developments.
This creates multitiered hierarchical structures where end-user technologies
become dependent upon infrastructure technologies which underlie the solutions
stack. This in turn leads to the establishment of platform technologies of increasing
relevance in agriculture, not only in commercial terms but also because of their ability to create additional value for customers and to integrate digital, biological, and
financial solutions in a more efficient and/or affordable way.
While startups and academics have vast innovative abilities and venture capitalists have resources that can be assigned to the development of new technologies,
only the large, international seed companies have the scale and the development
resources to bring some of these innovations to market in production agriculture.
3 Open Innovation and Value Creation in Crop Genetics
countries. To enable such a model and also advance its philanthropic aims, DuPont
Pioneer (now part of Corteva Agriscience) developed, in 2017, a joint licensing
framework with the Broad Institute of Harvard University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) to provide access to CRISPR-based gene editing
technologies in plant agriculture. Under the joint licensing structure, the parties
made their combined portfolio of over 40 patents available for free to support
research conducted by academics, governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations, as well as for the development of agricultural products destined to smallholder farmers, while also retaining the freedom to license their individual patent
portfolio to others. For other licensees, they apply financial terms that are adapted
to the licensees’ size and revenue prospects.
The long and arduous path that often accompanies the establishment of research
and commercial licensing agreements provides additional support for a more open
form of innovation. Early stage technologies are highly uncertain, and many remain
untested, either due to failure to reach a satisfying win-win situation during negotiations or simply because the negotiation process constitutes a hurdle that the parties
are not willing to face. As Fig. 3.1 shows, the likelihood of success of technologies
at a very early stage of development is, at best, slight. Settling for simpler, researchonly licensing relationships can open the floodgates that keep less mature technologies from being tested while deferring the negotiation of commercial terms to a time
when initial proof of concept is confirmed. Under a closed innovation mindset, such
technologies might never be tested. Though this approach might not be adequate for
all technologies, it represents an option that both sides of a negotiation might
consider.
A further reason for encouraging a more open form of collaboration and innovation is the highly interconnected and interdependent nature of technology developments among many participants in the agricultural technology development sector.
Technological and commercial developments rarely happen in isolation but rather
derive from the development of networks of agricultural technologies, in which
components interact and co-evolve to become increasingly interdependent. One of
the reasons for such interdependency is the establishment of separate dominant
designs, which create network externalities, complementing each other and lowering the costs of absorbing and mainstreaming new developments.
This creates multitiered hierarchical structures where end-user technologies
become dependent upon infrastructure technologies which underlie the solutions
stack. This in turn leads to the establishment of platform technologies of increasing
relevance in agriculture, not only in commercial terms but also because of their ability to create additional value for customers and to integrate digital, biological, and
financial solutions in a more efficient and/or affordable way.
While startups and academics have vast innovative abilities and venture capitalists have resources that can be assigned to the development of new technologies,
only the large, international seed companies have the scale and the development
resources to bring some of these innovations to market in production agriculture.
3 Open Innovation and Value Creation in Crop Genetics