Profile

Harry Booyens, PhD. (Physics)

— Director : Intellectual Property

— After obtaining his Ph.D. in Physics, Harry did R&D on semiconductors and superconducting computers at IBM in New York. In 1980 he returned to his native South Africa to teach Physics and Biophysics.

In 1982 he joined CSIR, a contract R&D body in South Africa similar to the German Fraunhofer Institute. He played a key role in making the organization 70% industry-funded. The focus was on electronic materials for application in Defence & Aerospace. For this work he was honoured by the Institute of Physics with its prestigious Silver Jubilee Award for the Best Young Physicist in 1985. In 1988 he won an award from the Defence & Aerospace Industry for his contribution to that sector.

By 1996 he was leading a Communications Technology R&D group of some 140 personnel. Their innovations included a unique passive barcode-equivalent rf transponder technology embedded in a dedicated rf-powered Si chip. He personally supported the licensing of the associated patent portfolio into the USA, UK, Canada, Japan and France.

In 1998 Harry assumed the Patent and R&D Investment Management role within CSIR. Given his background, he was soon additionally asked to turn around a struggling 70-person Contract R&D group. The unit was profitable within 6 months without loss of personnel, serving clients in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and South Africa. Three High Tech companies were spun off from this group.

In 1999 he launched a Design, Modeling and Rapid Prototyping Centre focusing on automotive parts and jet turbines. R&D contracts were soon secured from High Tech companies in the USA, UK and Europe. The unit gained financial success in its first year of operation.

In 2000 Harry joined Creo Inc. in Vancouver BC to create a team to build the company’s Intellectual Property position. Successes included a major litigation triumph over the leading competitor as well as relieving the company of a $1M annual royalty burden. He also managed the resolution of the key IP issues in the $1.2B sale of Creo Inc. to Kodak. From 2005 to 2010 he continued the same role, protecting Kodak’s Canadian and Israel-based R&D efforts. Several hundred patents were filed and numerous products cleared under his leadership until 2010.

In 2010 the services of Basson-Booyens Consulting Inc. were directed toward the unique challenges faced by High Tech Startup ventures in building their Intellectual Property Portfolios.

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