From research to lift-off: an EPO case study highlights how IP pivots put Oxeon on board the first helicopter to fly on Mars

Create IP that gives you the power to pivot. As you get going, as highlighted by a recent EPO case study, you can try out as many business models as you like. Later, you will have a clear structure that will allow you to adapt to insights from your partners and feedback from your customers. It is a policy that put Oxeon aboard the first helicopter to fly on Mars. The promise of a new era in exploration by Nasa’s Ingenuity model is being realised in part through the use of a lightweight, durable fabric of carbon fibre developed and commercialised at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. The venture that it inspired, Oxeon, first proved itself in Formula 1, before becoming one of Sweden’s highest growth companies and taking to the air over Mars. Oxeon began life as two patents and a mock-up. Experiments on the use of composites for textiles during the 1990s had led to the novel weaving of carbon fibre as a lightweight and durable fabric. The researcher, Nandon Khokar, only applied for a patent when persuaded to do so by a family friend, who, as a professional investor, saw the potential in his ideas. The question of how to commercialise it was taken to the school of entrepreneurship programme at Chalmers, where two students chose it as their elective module. They could see its potential for aerospace, but realised it would take time to be adopted in such a regulated industry. So to prove their technology in practical applications, they turned to users more open to experimental technologies: sporting goods in general and Formula 1 in particular. Their next question was what business model would suit these users. Originally, their focus was on the core technology. Then they switched to selling machinery under licence, before settling on products close to market. All told, they experimented with 24 business models in their first year. After making their mark in Formula 1, they expanded into other sporting goods and started to build their brand. By 2010, they had proved their concept sufficiently for aerospace and were recognised as a super-gazelle, winning an award as one of Sweden’s highest growth companies. For Oxeon, as the EPO reports, the beauty of IP is that it continues to give them a framework that lets them pivot, maybe not as radically as at the beginning, but in a continuous process of adaptations to what customers and partners require, even those as demanding as space engineers. • 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. The full version of the text is available as an EPO download and it appears in ‘Winning with IP: Managing intellectual property today’, second edition, Novaro Publishing, January 2022. See here for details.