Toolspace Testimonials

In 2017 Toolspace launched the Ideaction Hardware Accelerator program with the mission to support entrepreneurs in validating hardware ideas and turning them into concepts. The accelerator focuses on working with rapid prototyping and business strategy. One of the tools used is, IPscreener – an automated platform to work with IP and business strategy. We would like to share how using IPscreener is part of their success.

The use of IPscreener in the Ideaction Hardware Accelerator

At IPscreener we want to help our customers succeed by focusing on the promising idea and avoid spending time and resources in re-inventing the wheel. The cornerstone of innovation is Intellectual property (IP). To make confident, sustainable decisions it is critical to have a clear view of the IP landscape. Surprises is the last thing you want. Working with the wrong idea can lead to missed opportunities, wasted time and unnecessary expenses. What you need is reliable, comprehensive information at your fingertips. Use IPscreener to innovate smarter.

IPscreener helps entrepreneurs and inventors – to rapidly find the active and inactive patents in their idea space. It gives access to sharp, technical information. IPscreener allows you to map your competitors and understand the technological trends. It’s a support tool helping you to validate your idea at a very early stage. IPscreener is an agile tool for modern entrepreneurs.

-J-B Gérard Co-founder of Toolspace and Head of Ideaction

Andning Med AB – Validating the idea of a smart inhaler

The project started in 2019 when Annelie Hultman, Petra Szeszula and Essam Sharaf decided to learn more about the problems surrounding the use of medical inhalers and the impact on health. By working close to the problem for several months and meeting hundreds of patients they could ideate several solutions. In February 2020 they got accepted to the Ideaction Accelerator Program with the goal of validating the market and the technology they had identified. Towards the end of the program they had validated important aspects and started Andning Med AB. The company is on a mission to help patients breathe easily even though they have asthma or COPD. They create an inhaler that doesn’t require education and helps inhale every time.

Thanks to the visual interface that IPscreener, we could quickly scan through technical drawings in each patent and evaluate which patents were relevant to our invention. The ability to access the patents in full text and links to their legal status on Espacenet made the navigation through the patent landscape easy to comprehend. We got to the relevant patents in a record time.

-Annelie Hultman Co-founder Andning Med AB

Validating the idea of a smart helmet for professional athletes

Kenneth Kinneen is a former rugby player who went through several concussion during his career. Today those concussions cause him headaches and loss of memory. In order to protect the new generation, Kenneth was interested in finding smart solutions to protect the heads of players.

Kenneth met with several scientists and engineers to understand the problem and explore possibilities. He identified several sensor technologies and started to ideate several solutions. He applied to the Ideaction Program to validate them. Right after starting the program Kenneth ran searches in IP Screener and was able to list the patents and the companies highly involved in this field.

It became clear that the idea could not be further developed without the use of the patented technology found with IPscreener – unless intensive R&D work (which was not attractive to Kenneth). We contacted the companies owning the relevant patents and started good discussions with them. Unfortunately, they were already licensing their technologies to other companies and were not willing to start a new partnership at that point. It gave Kenneth the opportunity to rapidly stop the project, lower the risk at an early stage and eventually start working on another approach to the problem.

-J-B Gérard recalling the discussion with Mr Kinneen

IPscreener helped us to quickly screen the landscape in the field of inhalers and better understand which companies were active in this sector. We could screen our competitors and familiarize us with the technologies behind the existing products on the market. Which made it easier to decide where to direct the technology innovation and frame our business strategy around it.

-Petra Szeszula CEO Andning Med AB

Did you know this about patents?

Patents are the world’s greatest source of information covering more than 80% of all technology know-how, where 90% is free to use. Therefore, the first step in a successful development project is to understand the innovation landscape by mining patent information. Not only will patent data assist you to quickly see what other inventors are doing. You will also be able to get insights on the technology domain and the players in it. When searching the patent databases, you will discover trends for Research and Development activities. The data will help you to discover who is active, where, and when plus by whom an invention was created. IPscreeners semantic AI patent search tool, will equip you with the knowledge and confidence you need to transform your innovation process.