A customized version of Compuware's Covisint software platform is being designed to help spark technology sharing among the entities.

“It’s like having a very large virtual skyscraper of rooms where people can meet to discuss intellectual property,” Cole said.

Faster exchange of intellectual property would create jobs and benefit the economy, he said. As an example, companies and university researchers that want to share alternative powertrain technology could do so more quickly through the AutoHarvest platform.

The auto industry is a mammoth generator of patents and technology - and much of it could extend to other industries. Mostly because of the auto industry and Michigan’s three research universities, the state is seventh in the country in total patents generated, federal officials said recently.

“There’s a ton of intellectual property trapped in the auto industry,” Cole said. “We need to accelerate the flow of intellectual property both in and out of the auto industry to try to take advantage of the IP that exists here and all over the world.”

Some 70 percent of research-and-development in the auto industry is conducted in Michigan, which also has some 350 auto suppliers, Cole said.

Washtenaw County’s auto technology generators include the 1,000-person Toyota Technical Center in York Township and the 170-person Hyundai Kia America Technical Center in Superior Township.

“If we have intellectual property that we’re not using to create jobs in this state, that’s a mistake,” Cole said.

Cole said the Covisint platform would offer a secure environment for the discussion of confidential IP. If discussions between two entities progress, they would then meet in person to discuss legal details of a deal, he said.

Cole, a former U-M engineering professor, is working from an office alongside the University of Michigan’s Technology Transfer Office in the former Pfizer complex in northern Ann Arbor, where U-M also opened a startup business incubator last week.

Technology produced by U-M and other universities could be a key source of IP for the AutoHarvest exchange, Cole said. U-M filed for 151 patent applications in its 2009 fiscal year and 1,184 since 2001, according to U-M's Technology Transfer Office.

“We are so excited to be able to partner with him,” said Ken Nisbet, executive director of the Tech Transfer Office.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.