He's probably got a pretty good idea of the inside workings of QDV as well. He CoPi'd a few patents & papers with Bawendi & SethCoeSullivan , which might give him some good insight as to what areas their patents cover, as well as how we might go about going beyond &/or improving on their tech. I think it's fair to say that Steve made a good score with Stott. I would also think that , given Stotts' insight into the competitions tech , his signing-on with QMC amounts to a testament to QMCs' viability. With his direct-involvement tech-knowledge & access (through NDA's with both parties) , he would surely be able to judge whether or not QMC has a reasonable comparative chance of making good.