Agrigento, Italy:  MonachinoTechnology has selected Venture Isles to market its US intellectual property portfolio of patents, trade secrets and know-how and copyrighted drawings and specifications for precast concrete footings for walls and columns.  This is our first client from outside the US and we look forward to many more in the years ahead.

The innovation is a construction method for foundation footings that eliminates the need for form-work on-site.  It has been in use in Italy for several years.  Concrete shells and the reinforcing steel are cast and fabricated in a factory and then are trucked to the building site.  The shells are filled with concrete after they are placed on-site.  The system is less costly than the current on-site form-work method but provides higher quality of reinforcement placement and overall construction accuracy.  This new precast system creates the same solid interlocking between the footing and the wall or column as current cast-in place methods, so it is an advance for the precast industry and open up below ground foundation construction to precast solutions.

Almost a year ago Professor Mose Monachino was referred to me by Jackie Hutter (IP Asset Maximizer Blog).  It took a while to sort out all the intellectual property that Professor Monachino and his family have developed and to evaluate the marketplace.  Much of today's precast concrete technology has come out of Italy, which makes sense as the building material was invented there in Roman times.

We conducted a review of their patents by a patent lawyer and technical experts.  Then we researched the precast concrete industry in the US.  Then we began primary market research that included contacting leaders of precast companies, architects for "big box" retail chains, general contractors, concrete contractors and trade association officials.  We even built a model of the footing and walls to help those we interviewed in person to understand they system quickly.

It was only after the research was completed and we had a sales plan did my client and I decide to move forward.  We have a target list of innovative precast companies and of concrete technology distributors.  We have just added the portfolio to the products section of our website and are preparing our listing for Yet2.com.  Monachino has several videos of the product in use in Italy and of computer generated graphics of the production process, which should be very helpful. 

We are seeking a master licensee for the US who would in turn sub-license the technology to independent precasters to achieve national distribution.  See our website, VenureIsles.com/precast foundation footings for more information on the portfolio.