--- Updates with comments from chairman ---
Intellectual property group Tekcapital (LON:TEK) has snapped up rights to technology that allows smartphones and smart watches to use energy from human movement.
Tekcapital has acquired the exclusive worldwide rights from the University of Michigan to a piezoelectric electro-mechanical device, with patents pending.
The device can be inserted into shoes, clothing, sporting goods or recreational equipment to generate energy from vibrations created by movement.
It is based on technology originally designed to capture the energy generated by the vibrations of a beating heart, to charge the battery of a pacemaker implant.
Tekcapital has also acquired the rights to battery charging technology that can be used with the piezoelectric device.
The company is hoping to cash in on a market for wearable technology expected to be worth nearly US$35bn by 2020.
Assistant director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Michigan, Brian Copple, said: "We're very excited about the potential for this technology to provide wearable power generation and battery recharging for a wide variety of consumer products."
Executive chairman of Tekcapital, Clifford Gross, said: "We're seeking to position ourselves to be at the forefront of the technology revolution which seeks to enable people to charge their mobile devices from simply moving."
Gross told Proactive Investors that Tekcapital had acquired 17 new technologies since January as part of a drive to buy properties for its own portfolio.
"We're taking an ownership interest in addition to providing a brokerage function," he said.
He added: "We like to think all the technologies we acquire have considerable potential and these two meet that criteria.
"If they were not a leap forward, we wouldn't be interested in acquiring the rights."
Tekcapital shares were flat at 37p in mid-morning trading in London.