Innovation and IP Forum: Microsoft and Constellium on preparing to innovate
A panel at the Innovation and IP Forum in Paris today discussed how companies can ensure they create the right conditions for innovation to thrive.
Jean-Rémi Butruille, head of IP at aluminium products maker Constellium, described how the company has developed a system to encourage internal innovation.
Constellium launched its ‘Innovation Record’ programme to encourage employees to develop ideas that have business potential for the company. In order to qualify for an innovation record, an idea must be supported by a technical result, be considered new at first sight, have business potential and be worthy of consideration from an IP point of view.
An internal committee assesses applications for an innovation record and those that are accepted receive a reward. This has notable benefits for the company, in that authors of applications become familiar with IP, the company gets a “strong portfolio of potential patent applications”, and the IP department is made aware of potential innovations at a very early stage.
Olivier Laborde, of the bank Natixis, has written a book about how companies can innovate. He highlighted the challenge faced by big companies in particular: new and disruptive technologies and business models are transforming many industries, but larger companies can find it difficult because of their nature and established ways of working to innovate in that world.
He suggested that larger companies effectively need “two different organisations”—a predictable part of the organisation responsible for incremental innovation, and an unpredictable part to enable the company as a whole to facilitate bold, transformative ideas.
An “ambidextrous organisation” such as this might even, he suggested, find room for two CEOs—a chief executive officer but also a “chief entrepreneur officer”.
Butruille described how Constellium makes room for bold innovation with an innovation platform that is separate from the rest of the company and not controlled by any of its business units. This is for “projects with a low probability of success but high potential” and allows the company to pursue ideas that don’t necessarily have an obvious application at their inception.
Finally, Sonia Cooper of Microsoft’s IP policy and strategy group discussed how companies can protect their innovation in the cloud, and the wider implications of the move to cloud computing for intellectual property.
By 2025, Microsoft estimates that 60% of all computing will be done in the public cloud. This “shift to the cloud is accelerating and impacting every industry”, Cooper said. One of the tasks for companies faced with this change should be “to ensure your portfolio is relevant to your competitors’ so you can build a defensive portfolio and deter the IP threats we’re expecting”.
Microsoft’s cloud solution for companies contains particular elements that aim to support companies facing IP threats in the cloud. Most notably, as part of its ‘Patent Pick’ solution, the company has set aside approximately 10,000 patents “to help bolster our customers’ patent portfolios”.
If a customer is sued in relation to its activity in the cloud, the customer can look through those patents to find a defensive patent that can be leveraged against the other company and help in the case.
Roya Ghafele, executive director at the Oxfirst think tank, chaired the discussion.
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