I think you're quite right in you're analysis re the SP. The market wants the meat not the sizzle.
Something here that gives me hope that they are talking JV with an industry heavey or heavies is the mention of foundry resources. This should preclude featherwights being part of the equasion.
Establishing a POET Development Alliance (PDA) - The Company will be establishing relationships with one or more industrial partners looking towards jointly adapting POET to commercial scale III-V implementation. Alliance partners will provide key input including intellectual assets, technical staff, manufacturing capability, and foundry resources. In addition to optimizing device parameters and yields, a near-term goal will be to establish comprehensive design rules and a device parameter library for POET, which will proliferate licensed designs in a POET device ecosystem.