Rouse announces winners of Innovation Drive

Rouse, the leading Intellectual Property firm, has just announced the winners of its latest annual Rouse Innovation Drive, a competition it runs annually amongst employees to demonstrate a new idea for an innovation project that will improve the client experience.

The Innovation Drive aims to promote creativity, improving customer experience and futureproofing both Rouse and the IP sector. The competition was open to all Rouse employees, and the innovations could be anything from solving a problem within the team to an idea with major disruptive potential for the IP sector.

Rouse has crowned the following three winners of the challenge, who will receive a cash prize or choose to donate it:

1.      Enforcement Platform V3.0

One of the most pressing problems for IP professionals is fragmentation in the enforcement value chain. Currently data is siloed across Enforcement IP Services vendors, for example, there are long chains of intermediaries, and manual reporting and lack of standardised procedures means it is inefficient.

To tackle this, Brand Protection specialists James Godefroy from Guangzhou and Marcin Iwankiewicz from London developed a plan for Enforcement Platform 3.0, a modular platform that revolutionises the way Enforcement IP Services are bought, sold and delivered. The ultimate plan is to develop a solution-agnostic case management system that connects buyers and sellers of IPS.

2.      Centralised platform for trademark renewal

Renewing patents and trademarks is a time-consuming part of the job for IP professionals, with admin from collating renewal fees to setting follow up reminders. Currently there are different requirements from agents across the globe, and different renewal templates and rates.

Global Head of Formalities Mary Man from Hong Kong and legal administrator Ola Borre from Malmo were awarded for their idea of a ‘one-stop’ centralised online renewal platform which aims to standardise and streamline the process.

3.      MNC IP Legal & Business Report

Senior Associate and Head of China Research Unit Aria Tian from Beijing developed an idea for an IP Legal & Business Report for multinationals. Covering multiple jurisdictions, the business report would include legal updates and impact analysis of specific industries for selected countries.

Nick Redfearn, Global Enforcement Head at Rouse, says:

“We’re delighted to announce the well-deserving winners of the most recent Rouse Innovation Drive. Rouse has always been a leading light in innovation, which has become a key selling point for IP services business. Clients now expect a lot more from IP teams, and the competition aims to provide a systematic, collaborative way to ensure innovation. Through encouraging ideas for solutions such as these, we are continually finding ways to improve our clients’ service.”