From platform IP to tech exit
- publish258
- Mar 14, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 4
By connecting wind turbines to IoT, a TUM spin-out turned platform IP into a portfolio for investors to acquire and operate, reports an EPO case study
An early exploration by five entrepreneurial postgraduates into the potential for adopting optical sensors as a platform technology for industries such as rail, space and medical led to the creation of a more tightly focused spin-out, fos4X, in 2012.
One of the advantages of operating under the umbrella of a university such as the Technical University of Munich is that it has the reach to generate early feedback about where demand really lies. In a response to a press release about the progress of their work, some of Germany’s leading industrial players identified wind turbines as the most pressing challenge that optical sensors could solve.
Fos4X switched its focus to finding a better solution to managing the millions of load switches that a wind turbine will experience in its lifetime. The electrical sensors that were being used struggled to respond in adverse conditions, such as lightning and ice. Fos4X’s combination of light sensors and smart materials promised more resilience and accuracy.
The founders were well prepared to break into the market: TUM encourages its postgraduates to think about the potential for starting a company during their research and treats patents as a currency of equal value to publications. The supervising professor is even a European patent attorney and has experience with a total of six spin-outs.
On this basis, fos4X was able to build a case for four years of funding before making its first significant sale. Although it started under an exclusive licence from TUM, it exercised an option to buy all related IP in 2018.
By 2020, when fos4X was acquired by Polytech, a Danish manufacturer of products and services for the wind industry, its sales had reached €11 million and it had a portfolio of 200 patents in 80 patent families. Its capabilities in IP and innovation were one of its main attractions as an acquisition target: the fos4X managers responsible are now occupying similar roles for all of Polytech.
• This text is from ‘Deep tech to market’, a chapter of four EPO case studies by Thomas Bereuter and Ilja Rudyk, which highlights the experiences and insights of becoming a high-growth, high-impact venture. The full version of the text is available as a download via the EPO and it appears in ‘Winning with IP: Managing intellectual property today’, Novaro Publishing, October 2022. See here for details.
