R&D licensing

Digital Age DLC for Capitalism Lab
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rlilje
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R&D licensing

Post by rlilje »

Hi David,

A big aspect of today's technology industry is the licensing of R&D tech and patents to other companies. I think it would be really compelling to add a licensing of R&D (patents) mechanic to the Digital Age DLC.

Several of the other ideas in development for this DLC, such as deeper product customization and the introduction of a software component, will great increase the importance of R&D. Introducing a method to better manager proprietary R&D tech - such as licensing rather than fulling selling developed technologies - would add some interesting gameplay and be more reflective of how the technology age today.

For example - you could be very Apple like and continuously do in house R&D along with purchasing tech directly and licensing others when necessary. Go for the walled garden approach. You could potentially focus on developing a company that strictly focuses on R&D and drives it revenue through licensing deals and buying up smaller companies and their technologies. Maybe you go for the Samsung approach where you have manufacturing and retail, while also selling components and licensing tech to other manufactures. You could even spin off a subsidiary that managers your R&D and Tech portfolio - licensing older tech while protecting the newest/best techs for your own products.

I'm not entirely sure how this would be implemented within the existing Capitalismlab framework. Ideally you would broker a licensing deal with another company and they would pay a fixed value for each product produced using the technology. The cost of the fee could be determined by a combination of key factors such as it's overall tech level, along with how much the licensed tech impacts the overall rating of the product it's being implemented in. Other factors could include the amount of alternatives that are available (if you are first to market and no other competitors exist the fee would be higher. To keep things interesting you would need to renew your license on an annual basis (or better yet 1 or 5 year terms). As more companies offer to license the technology, or the products are cannibalized by newer technologies, the cost would drop.
CuteRabbit
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Re: R&D licensing

Post by CuteRabbit »

Good idea!
klasanov
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Re: R&D licensing

Post by klasanov »

I second this idea.

Research, as it stands, is severely undervalued. In my current game, a AI offered me $100m for my grape juice research which was at 1,262, the highest in the game. I briefly considered it since my profits were 300m and i could use the cash (im nowhere near top dog and thats ok -- my company seeks market share over profit in beverage and food) but declined because it was a one-off deal which would make me less competitive overall, and with prvate companies theres plenty of healthy competition where i need every edge i can get especially now that 30 years in the public companies are all bought. NTM the chunk of game time invested in getting to that research

Had it been 100m a year or 5 years i may have considered it. Also would be nice to compete with the AI this way sice i can buy research for cheap.
WilliamMGary
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Re: R&D licensing

Post by WilliamMGary »

+1
Arcnor
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Re: R&D licensing

Post by Arcnor »

Love this idea, especially when matched up with the subsidiary DLC
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eleaza
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Re: R&D licensing

Post by eleaza »

For the first time I have nothing to add. And actually quite fun of this idea. Hopefully we will get similar mechanism in Digital Age DLC.
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David
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Re: R&D licensing

Post by David »

I'm not entirely sure how this would be implemented within the existing Capitalismlab framework.
I feel the same here. While it is a good concept, it may complicate the interfaces.

FYI, the dev team is in the process of experimenting with a new gameplay mechanism where you could develop an operating system as an open source (like Android) or proprietary software (like iOS). But licensing fees are not required in either cases.
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