Meet ICP
Inlecom Commercial Pathways (ICP) is a specialist not for profit consultancy based in Ireland, focusing on fostering innovation and business growth through EU-funded research and development projects. ICP supports organisations by offering expertise in areas such as project coordination, intellectual property management & patents, and the development of commercial exploitation strategies. With a focus on technology, sustainability, and infrastructure, ICP aids in transforming research outputs into viable market solutions. ICP also provides tailored guidance to SMEs and established enterprises to maximise the commercial impact of their innovations, whilst also ensuring compliance with funding requirements and enhancing the long-term viability of their projects. Within the Delphi project ICP is responsible for intellectual property management and ensuring that innovations developed within the project are appropriately protected. With extensive patenting experience and over 400 patents filed across EU, USA and Asia, the ICP team are intimately familiar with the patenting process across multiple jurisdictions. Inlecom Commercial Pathways has developed a methodology for protecting innovation specifically created in EU funded research projects and our patent framework process has ensured ICP has an unrivalled success rate with patent applications for our consortium partners.
Can you provide an overview of your role and involvement in the DELPHI project?
Inlecom Commercial Pathways role within the Delphi project is the management of Intellectual Property. As the project research work is realised and the piloting of project results commences, the innovations and inventions formed through the work of the consortium are closely monitored by the ICP team and assessed for their commercial applicability and potentiality for patenting. The Delphi project leverages Inlecom’s Innovation Management Methodological Framework for determining which of the projects potential inventions can proceed to the patent filing stage. This decision making process is meticulous, with considerations given to a number of key factors such as ensuring the invention is practically feasible and has a practical function. Above all the team assess if the invention is novel and has brought a significant new perspective or method to this specific field and ensuring the invention’s uniqueness against global prior art and existing patents. ICP plays a crucial role in guiding Delphi project partners on the most appropriate region or country to lodge their patent application, and guiding them step by step through the patent filing process. This decision aligns with the intended use by the partner and their long-term business goals, as well as with the objectives of the Delphi project ambitions and the objectives of the EU Commission.
For many EU funded project partners these concepts such as IPR and patenting may seem quite abstract and unfamiliar – in a project like Delphi what are the main types of intellectual property that are considered by the Inlecom Commercial pathways?
EU project consortia typically consist of a diverse range of partners from industry, research and academia, some of whom are often not overly familiar with Intellectual property rights or patents. There are number of differ IP categories with numerous protection types and protection periods. The main types of IP include Trademarks, such as the Mercedes three point star, and Copyright; used to protect output such as a piece of music, literature/book, artwork as well as a computer program design. Within the Delphi project there is a focus on identifying innovation that can be filed as Utility Patents – These patents are used to protect inventions with a unique practical function, such as a machinery and technology, new medicines, tools and processes or new ways of working. These patents have a typical protection period of 20 years, The classic modern example of a utility patent is the Apple iphone, an innovative technological device for everyday practical function, with a novel and clear inventive step of combining the traditional mobile phone with the capabilities of the Ipod and internet utility of a laptop/pc.
The commercial benefits to filing patents on behave of SMEs and private companies involved in EU research project are evident, but what are some of the benefits of filing patents on behalf of project partners representing research organisations and academia.
ICP is committed in its projects to engaging with all partner types not only to identify the strongest possible patents from the work of the consortium, but also to increase the understanding of IP and its significance within research community. The very basic principle of any patent, is the legal rights it enables for the patent owner, to protect their innovation from being copied by others. In the absence of patents and IP protection, a unique and creative idea can easily be a recipe for someone else’s success. This is relevant to academics and researchers as it is to private industry. As in private industry, academics and researchers can fully exploit their patents for example by licensing their technology/innovation on lucrative commercial terms to other actors, or also selling their granted patent outright to companies operating in that competitive space.
The value of having universities researchers and academic departments with a high number of granted patents is quickly becoming a cornerstone for universities marketing their institutes as a place where ideas and innovations can thrive, in order to attract the best and brightest students, researchers and collaboration partners.. Universities that consistently top the world university rankings like MIT, Stanford, and Harvard, also consistently rank the highest in patent activity.
For individual academics who wish to not only boost the ranking of their organisation but also boost their own academic reputation, achieving a granted patent is an assured method approach to significantly improve citation counts from your research work. Like journal articles, publications or books, patents can be referenced in scholarly and research papers. They are regarded as reliable sources of knowledge, particularly when talking about an invention’s legal status, technical specifics, or prior art.
How do you see the integration of project results of the Delphi project in to the wider industry beyond the lifetime of the project?
As part of our task and activities in project Delphi, ICP also host IP training programmes in order to familiarise the project partners with IP concepts. One of the key aspects ICP teaches in this training is for the consortium partners to adopt a wider perspective of IP and patents in the context of project results and outputs from project research. When considering what project research results could be identified as relevant for patenting, ICP encourages the partners to not look at the current technology levels and current state of the market, but rather to look beyond the immediate research results and to envisage scenarios and developments over a medium to long term. In order to file a patent, you do not necessarily have to have implemented your idea. It is often ample if you are able to describe it in sufficient detail and understand the parameters and enablement requirement for it to be realised in the future. We encourage the partners to anticipate what their own research results and the project results could evolve into and how these could address future market needs in 3 to 5 years time, and encourage these types of patents. A very large percentage of today’s patents are filed with the intention of protecting those advancements that businesses consider will be important in the future. With this perspective encouraged within the consortium, the impact and legacy of research results and technology developed within the Delphi project could potentially span far beyond the lifetime of the project.
Anything else you would like to mention or highlight?
At ICP we believe it is also important to highlight for the project partners and the research community where we currently stand in terms of innovation in Europe and the key role the community plays. Patent filing is a key indicator of innovation activity, and Europe is trailing far behind other global competitive regions. With approx. 10% share of worldwide patents granted over last decade granted in Europe, the majority share is being granted in Asia and North America respectively. This trend is also reflected directly in the EU research programmes like H2020 and Horizon Europe, with a dramatic decline in IPR applications stemming from funded projects from these programmes over the last decade. The EU commission has consistently stated the significance of encouraging IP protection and thus any funded project that proactively supports IP applications is increasingly being favorably recognized by the EU Commission and by project officers. ICP is spearheading the drive to reverse this declining trends in IP activity working with research consortia across Europe, just like in Delphi project, to stimulate innovation and help Europe compete in the global economy.
