Archeon, nominated as finalist for the INPI 2021 Trophies!

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News

November, 2021 . Paris

On June 4, 2020, Archeon was recognized by the INPI for its EOlife ventilation monitoring device as one of the best French innovations to respond to the Covid-19 health crisis.

This year, Archeon is honored to be among the finalists of the INPI 2021 Trophies in the “start-up” category. We are proud to be once again recognized by the French National Institute of Industrial Property, which was born 70 years ago and which is now at the service of innovation and competitiveness of companies.

Discover below the interview of our President, Alban De Luca, who explains in detail our industrial property strategy.

What is your innovation and intellectual property strategy? Has it contributed to your growth, to your export development? Has it enabled you to form new partnerships or to reassure investors?

A. D L.: Intellectual property (IP) is essential to secure the development of a start-up and to give confidence to financiers and investors, who risk a great deal if the company is overtaken. This is particularly true in the health care sector, where very large investments are required before a product can be marketed, and where the risk related to copycats is particularly high. Therefore, for the development of our ventilation products, we have put in place a strategy based on four main axes:

Ensure that our innovations are free to be used,
Purchase or contract licenses for third-party patents that could be an obstacle to the marketing of our solutions in the most promising markets,
Register patents on the innovations that add the most value to our products and target the territories where our main competitors are based,
Maintaining secrecy with a very high level of confidentiality on our know-how, and particularly on software development where we know that protection via patents is not always possible or accepted according to the legislation in force in the various countries.

At the same time, our team of engineers in R&D is constantly monitoring new technologies. And we are supported by a scientific board made up of experts in emergency medicine and resuscitation, in order to compare our ideas and thus propose solutions that are not only innovative, but also the most relevant possible to meet the needs of healthcare professionals.

This strategy, although energy-intensive and relatively costly, not only allows us to “de-risk” the development and growth of our company, but also to establish strategic partnerships with large industrial groups with whom we are in contact for the integration of our technology in their product range.

"Intellectual property is one of the keys to success for any innovative company "

What does this nomination for the INPI Trophies mean to you?
A.D L. : We are very happy to be nominated for the INPI 2021 Trophy in the “start-up” category, because it highlights all the efforts we make to protect our innovations. This area, too often neglected or undervalued, is the tip of the iceberg, but is no less important. In June 2020, the INPI had already noticed our EOlife device as a promising innovation in response to the Covid-19 health crisis. This nomination is a continuation of that and is already a huge reward for us!
You have benefited from a service offered by INPI. Can you tell us more about it? And what did it bring you?

A.D L. : We did indeed benefit from an initial IP Pass when the company was launched: financial assistance enabling us to carry out initial freedom of exploitation and patentability studies to confirm our orientations. Then a second one, to finance contractual support for the acquisition of a patent. At a time when the company was in its infancy and when the cash flow would not have allowed us to call on IP firms without outside help, these services were particularly beneficial.
Do you have any advice for entrepreneurs in the field of industrial property?

A.D L. : The first piece of advice I could give as a manager is that the intellectual property of any business project is the core of what it owns, apart from its client base. It is therefore necessary to devote time and resources to it, because for young companies it represents the very essence of their value during the first years of development when they are not generating revenues. The most important thing is to understand where the potential customers are, and to identify the innovative functions of one’s product that will have the most added value and the means to be used to protect them (industrial secret, patent, copyright, etc.). This is one of the keys to success for any innovative company.

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