Blockchain internet of things (IoT) project, Waltonchain and intellectual property (IP) research platform, Loci on Monday (Feb 12) announced a strategic partnership that the duo hope will help spread their innovation-spurring technology across two continents.
Waltonchain is a Shenzhen, China-based company that uses RFID tags to track physical goods on a proprietary blockchain. “A simple scan of the RFID tag provides you with all the information you need to know,” explains CoinCentral. “What the product is, where it’s been, who’s handled it, and other important data is all stored on the blockchain through these tags.”
Waltonchain has partnered with a number of big players since its launch in November 2016, including a few Chinese provincial governments. For this latest partnership, it’s selected a relatively new company to provide access to IP and a foothold in the US.
Loci is a Sterling, Virginia-based company whose patent research platform creates what it calls a “3D map of technologies, inventions, patents, ideas, and concepts.” According to a Blockchain News interview with CEO John Wise, the company’s InnVenn tool aims to enable people to discover the “ontology” of a patent or idea and also trade it. The company launched its /LOCI token in October 2017.
The specifics of the partnership between Waltonchain and Loci have not been defined publicly, but a blog post published by Wise outlines three goals:
First, Waltonchain is to become a strategic purchasing partner for the IP on the InnVenn platform. Loci has the means to find, collate, and transfer IP; Waltonchain is located in Shenzhen, “the hardware capital of the world.” The companies hope a synergy can be found here in, roughly, a market-making capacity.
Second, “Waltonchain has selected Loci to locate and help secure a strategic US based incubator,” according to the statement. The idea is somewhat vague here, but it seems that Loci will help set up and then, to some degree, be a member of a Y Combinator-style incubator bankrolled by Waltonchain and provide the Chinese company with access to the burgeoning US startup market. Loci’s IP-trading platform will surely help these companies as well.
Finally, the two companies plan to cross-promote to research institutions. Loci has access to valuable ideas, Waltonchain knows how to make them happen. This pairing, according to Wise, will “deliver a strong offering” to research institutions. “Imagine universities with billion-dollar IP portfolios using InnVenn for IP research and management and Waltonchain purchasing these portfolios to bring these new technologies to the market,” his statement said.
Following news of the partnership (on Feb 12), the /LOCI token showed a minimal bump in trading volume before petering out. Waltonchain’s /WTC performed better, surging by over 26 percent by Feb 15.