In a press release today, Ford announced that they are opening to competitors the patents and patent applications they have for electric vehicles. The move is not unlike what Tesla did last year when they opened all their patents in the spirit of accelerating the advent of electric transport.
A big reason Germany was able to create so much new technology prior to and during WWII was because of opening up the patent office. While I would not like to segue this article (and similar technology divulging) into the next world war, I would like to see this as a great start to the next tech boom around the US and hopefully world-wide.