May the tent be with you
It is all his grandmother’s fault. There’s a Star Wars quality to the sight of half a dozen of his Tentsile tree tents floating mid-air in the woods.
Patents
Patents protect the features and process that make things work. A patent can only be granted for something that is new and inventive. A patent has to be renewed every year but can last for up to 20 years.
Patent Pending
Patent pending is a term that you will often hear on programmes like Dragons' Den or The Apprentice. It occurs when inventors and entrepreneurs are talking to potential investors or collaborators.
Re-branding Dirt
Creatives and inventives are sometimes characterised as dreamers. Their shared trait is their concern with the edges of experience, not the nitty gritty of reality.
Graphene: the patent landscape in 2015
What links flexible electronics, bulletproof armour, energy storage, supercars and new age tennis rackets? The answer...graphene, the new wonder material according to scientists around the world. Its material properties are staggering.
Thames, Dogger, Fisher: CO2 rising
Traditionally, if you want to predict the future you need two things: a soothsayer and a disembowelled chicken.
Visionary IP partnerships
Joint patents are usually greeted by a sharp intake of breath. Lawyers warn of future conflict. Corporates fear loss of control. Others are more relaxed.
Wheels of creativity
When are Prada, Gucci and Armani going to try their arts on the wheelchair? Creating from the front wheels to the backrest, a glorious fashion statement, rather than an unavoidable announcement of medical need?
Whistle Blowers
There has been a lot of interest in the press recently about whistle blowers, so I thought I would share a story that I heard on Radio 2’s drive time show recently.
Everyone owns IP. What do you own?
It’s a question that we often ask as part of the IPO’s outreach team and it’s not always easy to answer.
Libraries supporting startups
January was an exciting month for the British Library. We launched Living Knowledge, a new vision setting out our strategy to guide us towards our 50 year anniversary in 2023.