Charles Brumlik

Managing Partner

Nanobiz, LLC

http://www.nano-biz.com

Charles Brumlik advises multinational corporations, investors, startups, and governments on technology assessment and commercialization.
Dr. Brumlik is focused on commercialization, due diligence, and technology sourcing in alternate energy, materials, cleantech and nanotechnology. Application areas include membranes, separations, chemical functionalization, ultrafine particles, high surface area materials, cermets, displays, solid state lighting, sensors, and electronics.
As a business attorney, he advises international technology companies, startups, and venture capital groups. At ExxonMobil, Honeywell, and a Princeton law firm, he specialized in transactional and patent issues in chemistry and materials science commercialization for corporations, academia, and governments.

Symbiotic relationships are not unique to nature; they have been common in the business world for many different reasons for many years in the form of public-private partnerships or alliances. With technological advances, businesses are expanding world-wide and are using governments, uniquely positioned as the ultimate networking tool, to help further operations in other countries. According to Wikipedia, “Public-private partnerships (PPPs) involve a contract between a public sector authority and a private party, in which the private party provides a public service or project and assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risk in the project.” These partnerships proliferated in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of the high level of national public debt. The government sought private investment in infrastructure on the basis that if private-sector organizations took responsibility for most aspects of service provisions for a given project, they could yield an improved allocation of risk, while maintaining public accountability for essential aspects of service provision. Although PPPs exist in a number of different formats, typically, a private sector consortium forms a special company called a “special purpose vehicle” (SPV) to develop, build, maintain and operate the asset for the contracted period to avert risk from the main business. PPPs have expanded globally, but growth has slowed down since the 2008 financial crisis. Companies both large and small are now getting more creative in the development of PPPs and initiatives like President Obama’s Startup America should help entrepreneurs finance and commercialize new ideas. But mixing politics with public opinion will always spurn an element of discontent and there is concern that PPPs encourage rent-seeking behavior and can promote favoritism from selection of politically preferred businesses. Marc Scribner noted in his report on cei.org, “This harms not only taxpayers, but the economy at large, as critical investment decisions are distorted by political considerations.” But smaller businesses are finding ways to navigate difficult Federal contracts in order to reap some of the benefits of PPPs, especially in the field of cyber security. And despite the weak economy, PPPs are a way for specialized services to be provided to fill the gaps in niche markets. To turn public-private alliances into an advantage for your business, consider the following. Governments invest too, making for powerful partnerships. Public-private alliances can be developed anywhere for any industry. Public-private alliances are not just for big companies anymore. Band together with other businesses to bring power to government partnerships. Lastly, like any investor,  your government partners can bring political bias so go into that partnership with eyes open.