Rossi No Longer Controls E-Cat Business

Indicating a shift in the commercial direction of the E-Cat, Andrea Rossi today said that he is no longer in control of the business side of his invention. Last year Rossi announced that he had entered into a partnership with an undisclosed American company and comments since then have indicated that he has sold both the IP to the company and R & D operations, and that his title is now Chief Scientist.

Today on the Journal of Nuclear Physics a reader asked a question regarding his current role:

As Chief Scientist, you don’t control anymore the business or you‘ve got any kind of influence on it?

Rossi responded:

I am more interested to the scientific and technological development, I will not have control upon the business.

It’s not clear what this shift in roles will mean. Rossi has said that he found a partner who “shared our philosophy”, so one would expect that the sale would not have gone forward if the partner had plans that were not in harmony with Rossi’s own. But once control is gone, I don’t know how it can be regained if Rossi becomes dissatisfied with the direction the partner is taking. I am sure that there was plenty of discussion of management issues before the deal was struck — Rossi spoke of a ‘mammoth’ contract being signed.

What this will mean for the future of the E-Cat is impossible to say. We may know more when we find out who the mystery partner is.