I wonder if there is space for a pure IP company which simply created bike specs that manufacturers can create bikes compatible with, and then advertise themselves as “BikeDesignA” compatible.
With three major manufacturers that would never play with such a new entrant I think that ship has sailed. That's why you typically see major brand bikes that are entirely built up using Shimano, SRAM or Campagnolo parts. Note that Shimano (80% of the market or so, 10K+employees) is 100 years old and that Campagnolo (90 or so, sub 1K employees) is a high end niche player. SRAM is with 35 years of history and 3K+ employees the 'new kid on the block'.
So while I'm sympathetic to your idea in principle I think that in practice it would be really hard to get Shimano to play along with this, they have historically been real jerks about IP and have themselves been the subject of lawsuits involving unfair competition. I still use their products because I think they are value-for-money the best on the market but their corporate tactics suck.
Hm, maybe I'm misremembering this but I thought SRAM was an American company that acquired Sachs at some point. And yes, Sachs has enormous history but they did not as far as I know morph into SRAM, they basically ran until the end of the line and sold to the highest bidder. I remember their 'Sachs Ultra WC', the Rolls Royce of mopeds from the 80's. Very nice stuff.
Something like an ARM of the bike world.