Unlocking IP for safer e-bikes
- publish258
- Feb 13, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 4
Blubrake is unlocking IP in braking and giving itself the freedom to co-design safer solutions with e-bike manufacturers, reports an EPO case study
Four million Europeans are now buying e-bikes a year, even if safety remains a concern. Most accidents happen when braking. What if anti-locking technology could be transferred from motor sports? This was the inspiration for a spin-out from one of Europe’s largest technical schools, Polimi (Politechnico di Milano), in collaboration with an incubator of deep-tech companies, e-Novia.
Their common goal was to use the next generation of artificial intelligence to create an open system for the design of braking systems that could be fitted inside the frame of each manufacturer’s e-bike. Riders would then experience better traction and better balance when caught out by the speed or the weight of their e-bike.
It’s an ambitious and complex structure for upgrading how e-bikes are made, which relies on IP that is secure enough to break into the market and flexible enough for partnerships with manufacturers. Polimi secured the rights to the anti-locking technology and licensed them to the spin-out it created with e-Novia in 2015, Blubrake, whose first product appeared in 2021 after six years of further research and development.
Unusually, Blubrake took its time to file any patents of its own, initially preferring to operate under confidentiality. Its policy is to protect technology for close-to-market applications and manage its IP in close step with its technology road map.
Blubrake differentiates itself by co-designing solutions with e-bike manufacturers, as opposed to the proprietary models that its competitors offer. As a supplier, it would risk losing the value of such partnerships without the close management of the IP it has developed. On the basis of this balanced model, Blubrake raised €5.2m in 2021 to fund the next stage of its growth and won €10m from the European Investment Bank in 2023 to continue innovating in sustainable mobility.
• This text is from ‘Deep tech to market’, a chapter about 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.
