GATHERING dust on the shelves of companies across the globe lie hundreds of
thousands of inventions, often spin-offs from other R&D, chance discoveries
or simply ideas whose time had not yet come. Also out there somewhere are
companies who could put many of those inventions to good use. Now an
Internet-based service—backed by some heavyweight industrial
muscle—wants to bring the two together in what aims to be a clearing house
of new technology.
Last month, 30 of America’s biggest manufacturing companies—including
Boeing, Ford, Polaroid, Dow Chemical and Procter & Gamble—helped
launch the new service, called Yet2.com, by…
