Research to lift-off: ten high IP impacts
- publish258
- Oct 12, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 4
High growth? High impact? Three EPO case studies highlight how IP impacts the transformation of research into ventures ready to lift off
In April 2021, Nasa’s helicopter, Ingenuity, made its maiden flight on Mars. Its promise of a new era in exploration was realized in part using a lightweight, durable fabric of carbon fibre developed and commercialised at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.
Impact at scale is being researched at University College Dublin too. There, researchers have re-written the rules for electrical muscle stimulation and laid the foundation for a $45 million venture, Atlantic Therapeutics.
For a team of four female inventors at Ege University in Turkey, failure seemed the most likely outcome time and again. Now their product is on the shelves and they are running their own commercial R&D company, Dermis Pharma.
In these three EPO case studies, multiple actors were involved in converting research into real-world uses. In combination, they offer a series of IP pointers for how to create ventures ready to lift-off. Here are ten highlights:
Create IP that gives you the power to pivot. At the beginning, you can then try out as many business models as you like.
Take a portfolio approach combining patents, trade secrets, trade marks and other IP rights to give yourself complementary protection and improve your control over the technology and negotiating position.
Design your IP around the likely evolution of the technology and the demands of its users. Be smart enough to challenge existing beliefs, whether they say you can’t own IP jointly or that spin-outs are too risky.
Investigate all forms of support in commercialising your IP. Experienced technology transfer offices excel in establishing and negotiating your rights. Accelerators can help you investigate the market and speed up your adoption.
Use a tool like the EPO’s IPscore to systematically assess the state of your technology against five criteria that determine your outcome: technical, legal, market, strategy and funding.
Take a strategic view on what to patent, what part to keep as a trade secret and what inventions to release back to employees. Then ask how close to the market you can make your patent filing and what part you can keep as a trade secret, particularly when it cannot be reverse-engineered.
Agree the principle of patent first and publish later together with a timetable that delivers benefits to everyone. Publication does not have to clash with patent disclosure.
Use patents and publications to build you scientific credibility, particularly in markets where you can find yourself competing against copy-cats.
Make maximum use of the 30/31 months that you are given under the PCT to talk to users and investors, before deciding on the markets to which you want to extend your patent protection.
Be exclusive, but not secretive. IP protection puts you in a strong position, but you should keep talking to your partners and customers. Their feedback will open up more innovation opportunities. Either talk to them under non-disclosure or discuss the outcome and benefits of your technology without giving away the details of how it works.
• This text is a summary of ‘From research to lift-off’, a chapter about three EPO case studies by Thomas Bereuter and Ilja Rudyk, which highlights the experiences and insights of becoming a high-growth, high-impact venture.
