First-round institutional funding is targeted in eight months and Lynk hopes to be listed in 2002. So far, so good. Most scientists have a lot more trouble getting their projects off the ground. In the United States, university researchers typically spin out their own innovations, with venture capital funds. Japan lacks a supportive system where academics can do the same, says ING Baring's Yoda.
Researchers are often unfamiliar with intellectual property issues and chafe at patenting hurdles.
Some reject the idea of putting a price on ideas altogether. At the technology transfer office of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's leading research institution, Liang Chi-ming recalls, for instance, a scientist who offered to license his innovation for one token dollar. The company is one of China's bigger biotech firms, after Shenzhen Kexing Bioproducts. At the same, old economy companies are keen to buy into this exciting new area. Consider Hong Kong developer New World.