Research Frontiers Incorporated

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, you should carefully consider the following factors in evaluating us and our business. This Annual Report contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed below, as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report, including the documents incorporated by reference.

There are risks associated with investing in companies such as ours who are primarily engaged in research and development. In addition to risks which could apply to any company or business, you should also consider the business we are in and the following:

Source and Need for Capital.

As of December 31, 20234, we had approximately $2.50 million in cash and cash equivalents.

As we take steps in the commercialization and marketing of our technology or respond to potential opportunities and/or adverse events, our working capital needs may change. We anticipate that if our cash and cash equivalents are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, we will require additional funding to sustain our ongoing operations and to continue our SPD technology research and development activities.

We have funded most of our activities through sales of our common stock to investors, and upon the exercise of options and warrants. The eventual success of the Company and generation of positive cash flow will be dependent upon the extent of commercialization of products using the Companys technology by the Companys licensees and payments of continuing royalties on account thereof. We can give no assurances that we will generate sufficient cash in the future (through sales of our common stock, exercise of options and warrants, royalty fees, or otherwise) to satisfy our liquidity requirements or sustain future operations, or that additional funding, if required, will be available when needed or, if available, on favorable terms.

As of December 31, 20234, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $2.50 million, working capital of $3.32.5 million and total shareholders equity of $3.52.6 million. Our quarterly projected cash flow shortfall, basBased on our current operations, adjusted for any non-recurring cash expenses and adjusted for additional royalties expected to be received for use of our products in new production, for the next 12 months, is approximately $200,000 to $250,000 per quarter. We may eliminate some operating expenses in the future, which will further reduce our cash flow shortfall if needed. Based on these assumptions, we currently expect to hawe expect to have sufficient working capital for more than the next five5 years of operations.

History of Operating Losses.

We have experienced net losses from operations, and we may continue to incur net losses from operations in the future. We have incurred substantial costs and expenses in researching and developing our SPD technology. As of December 31, 20234, we had an accumulated deficit of $124.35.6 million since our inception. Our net loss was $1.93 million in 20234 and $2.71.9 million in 20223, (which includes non-cash accounting charges in 20234 and 20223 of $0.1 million and $0.21 million, respectively, resulting from the expensing of grants of stock options).

We may not generate sufficient cash flows to cover our operating expenses.

As noted above, we have incurred recurring losses since inception and expect to continue to incur losses as a result of costs and expenses related to our research and continued development of our SPD technology and our corporate general and administrative expenses. Our limited capital resources and operations to date have been substantially funded through sales of our common stock, exercise of options and warrants and royalty fees collected. As of December 31, 20234, we had working capital of approximately $3.32.5 million, cash and cash equivalents of approximately $2.50 million, shareholders equity of approximately $3.52.6 million and an accumulated deficit of $124.35.6 million. In the event that we are unable to generate sufficient cash from our operating activities or raise additional funds, we may be required to delay, reduce or severely curtail our operations or otherwise impede our on-going business efforts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and long-term prospects.

We have never declared a cash dividend and do not intend to declare a cash dividend in the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. Payment of dividends on our common stock is within the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon our future earnings, capital requirements, financial condition and other relevant factors. We do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.

We do not directly manufacture products using SPD technology. We currently depend upon the activities of our licensees and their customers in order to be profitable.

We do not directly manufacture products using SPD technology. We currently depend upon the activities of our licensees in order to be profitable. Although a variety of products have been sold by our licensees, and because it is up to our licensees to decide when and if they will introduce products using SPD technology, we cannot predict when and if our licensees will generate substantial sales of such products. Our SPD technology is currently licensed to over 40 companies. Other companies are also evaluating SPD technology for use in various products. In the past, some companies have evaluated our technology without proceeding further. While we expect that our licensees would be primarily responsible for manufacturing and marketing SPD-Smart products and components, we are also engaging in market development activities to support our licensees and build the smart glass industry. We cannot control whether or not our licensees will develop SPD products. Some of our licensees appear to be more active than others, some appear to be better capitalized than others, and some licensees appear to be inactive. There is no guarantee when or if our licensees will successfully produce any commercial product using SPD technology in sufficient quantities to make the Company profitable.

Some SPD-Smart products have only recently been introduced.

Products using SPD technology have been in the market for decades and new product applications are being introduced in various industries. Some of these new products have onlonly recently begun to be introduced into the marketplace. Developing products using new technologies can be risky because problems, expenses and delays frequently occur, and costs may or may not come down quickly enough for such products using new technologies to rapidly penetrate mass market applications.

We have several large licensees that account for 10% or more of our annual fee income.

During 20234, four licensees accounted for 394%, 1628%, 161% and 131%, respectively, of fee income recognized for the year. During 20223, four licensees accounted for 2839%, 2316%, 136% and 113%, respectively, of fee income recognized for the year. The loss of all or a substantial portion of the fee income from any of these customers (or certain other significant customers) could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and/or results of operations.

SPD-Smart products face intense competition, which could affect our ability to increase our revenues.

The market for SPD-Smart products is intensely competitive and we expect competition to increase in the future. We compete based on the functionality and the quality of our product. Many of our current and potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we have. In addition, many of our competitors have well-established relationships with our current and potential customers and have extensive knowledge of our industry. If our competitors develop new technologies or new products, improve the functionality or quality of their current products, or reduce their prices, and if we are unable to respond to such competitive developments quickly either because our research and development efforts do not keep pace with our competitors or because of our lack of financial resources, we may be unable to compete effectively.

Declining production of automobiles, airplanes, trains, boats and real estate could harm our business.

Our licensees commercialization efforts of SPD-Smart products could be negatively impacted if the global production of automobiles, airplanes, trains, boats and real estate construction declines significantly. If such commercialization is reduced, our revenues, results of operations and financial condition could be negatively impacted.

Limited source of SPD film.

Our end-product licensees require a source of SPD film to manufacture finished products. Currently, Showa Denko Chemical and Gauzy Ltd. are the only sources of commercial quantities of SPD-film. There are several other companies that are licensed to manufacture SPD-film, but they have not begun commercial production of this film. Our end-product licensees ability to sell SPD products could be negatively impacted if there was a prolonged disruption in SPD-film availability. Such a disruption could also negatively impact our revenues, results of operations and financial condition.

We are dependent on key personnel.

Our continued success will depend, to a significant extent, on the services of our directors, executive management team, key personnel and certain key scientists. If one or more of these individuals were to leave the Company, there is no guarantee that we could replace them with qualified individuals in a timely or economically satisfactory manner or at all. The loss or unavailability of any or all of these individuals could harm our ability to execute our business plan, maintain important business relationships and complete certain product development initiatives, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial conditions.

Dependence on SPD-Smart technology.

Because SPD technology is the only technology we work with, our success depends upon the viability of SPD technology which has yet to be fully proven. We have not fully ascertained the performance and long-term reliability of our technology, and therefore there is no guarantee that our technology will successfully be incorporated into all of the products which we are targeting for use of SPD technology. We expect that different product applications for SPD technology will have different performance and reliability specifications. We expect that our licensees will primarily be responsible for reliability testing, but that we may also continue to do reliability testing so that we can more effectively focus our research and development efforts towards constantly improving the performance characteristics and reliability of products using SPD technology.

Our patents and other protective measures may not adequately protect our proprietary intellectual property, and we may be infringing on the rights of others.

Our intellectual property, particularly our proprietary rights in our SPD technology, is critical to our success. We have received various patents, and filed other patent applications, for various applications and aspects of our SPD technology. In addition, we generally enter into confidentiality and invention agreements with our employees and consultants. Such patents and agreements and various other measures we take to protect our intellectual property from use by others may not be effective for various reasons generally applicable to patents and their granting and enforcement. In addition, the costs associated with enforcing patents, confidentiality and invention agreements or other intellectual property rights may be expensive. Our inability to protect our proprietary intellectual property rights or gain a competitive advantage from such rights could harm our ability to generate revenues and, as a result, our business and operations.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation of those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

If we identify material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls or disclosure controls, we may be unable to provide required financial information in a timely and reliable manner and we may incorrectly report financial information. If our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to adverse action by shareholders, Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. The existence of material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of us, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock. In addition, we may incur additional costs to remediate material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting.

We cannot assure you that a material weakness will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting. In addition, even if we are successful in strengthening our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our financial statements.