Open Innovation #3 : Can We Treat Technology as Shared Assets?

"What if technology wasn't something to hide, but something to share—and still earn from?"

In this post, I’d like to return to the heart of the vision behind this series.

Why am I writing about open technology and shared innovation? Why talk about technology as if it were a new kind of economic asset?

Because I believe this shift is not just desirable—it’s necessary.

We’re at a turning point. And the old model of innovation—where companies guard their R&D as trade secrets and build isolated infrastructures—is not only inefficient, it’s becoming unsustainable.

Let me explain.

🔒 The Current System: Secrecy, Duplication, and Energy Waste

Today, companies treat technology as a competitive moat. The more they hide, the more they believe they can extract. That leads to:

Proprietary large language models (LLMs) developed in silos
Independent data centers multiplying across the globe
Massive duplication of infrastructure and code
AI power being concentrated in the hands of a few

This model may have worked in the industrial era. But in the age of AI, where progress depends on scale, collaboration, and compute, it’s a dead weight.

Every new model trained in isolation means more electricity, more semiconductors, more emissions. It means a race toward redundancy—one that our planet may not have the resources to support.

🔓 A New Possibility: Technology as Shared Assets

What if we rethink how we define value?

What if, instead of hoarding innovation, we shared it—and still rewarded the people and organizations who made it possible?

Imagine a system where:

Technologies are registered as open, traceable assets
Contributors gain micro-equity or usage-based royalties
Companies can freely build upon shared innovations without needing to reinvent everything
Every time a piece of technology is used, the value it generates flows back to those who helped create it

This is what I mean by technology as shared assets.

Like stocks, these assets represent ownership and future earning potential. But unlike traditional shares, they’re not tied to a single company—they're tied to the utility and usage of the knowledge itself.

It’s not about giving everything away for free. It’s about creating a structure where openness and reward can coexist.

🌐 What Kind of World Would This Enable?

If we built a world where technology is treated as a shared economic asset, here’s what might change:

✅ 1. Open R&D Ecosystems

Companies could collaborate on base-layer technologies while differentiating at the application level
Duplicate model training, infrastructure, and energy usage would decrease dramatically
Innovation cycles would shorten, and breakthroughs would come faster

✅ 2. Efficient AI Development

Instead of 100 companies training 100 models from scratch, we could have 5 robust, well-maintained models that everyone improves
This means fewer data centers, lower energy demand, and better climate alignment
Yes, some centralization of AI power may still occur—but now it’s transparent, trackable, and shareable

✅ 3. Preserved Corporate Incentives

Companies still earn revenue—through royalties, service layers, application design, and value-added IP
The system doesn’t destroy capitalism. It redirects it to reward contribution over control

✅ 4. A More Sustainable Planet

Less compute waste
Less semiconductor overproduction
More innovation per watt

In short: fewer secrets, more progress—with less damage.

🔁 The Deeper Shift: From Closed Power to Shared Systems

This model isn’t just about economics. It’s about power.

Who gets to decide what’s valuable?
Who gets rewarded?
Who gets to build the future?

Today, the answers are centralized.
But a world where technology is open and traceable allows us to re-distribute not just information—but agency.

Of course, this won't happen automatically. That’s why I’m sharing these ideas in public.

Because this isn’t something one startup can fix. Or one government.
We need engineers, economists, lawyers, platform builders, policymakers—and you.