Over the course of this week The Engineer – in partnership with the engineering consultancy Ricardo – will be exploring the measures engineers can take to accelerate the path to production.
As we begin to look beyond the pandemic, much is being made of the role that engineering innovation will play in getting the UK economy back on its feet and addressing some of the big challenges we face, in particular the push for net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
From the perspective of The Engineer magazine there’s little doubt that the UK’s engineering innovators are up for the challenge. Indeed, a quick look at the winning entries in our recent Collaborate To Innovate Awards provides some pretty compelling evidence of the breadth and collaborative spirit of the UK’s engineering research base.
As always, the big challenge in the months years ahead will be ensuring that the ideas, concepts, breakthroughs and technologies emerging from this fertile environment are given the best possible change to succeed.
Enabling innovative ideas and concepts to successfully cross the so-called commercial valley of death has never been a particularly straightforward process.
And today – given the growing complexity of the products and technologies that will shape our future, as well as the emergence of a large number of new entrants often with limited experience of managing this transition it’s perhaps more challenging a than it’s ever been.
But this week, with the help of Engineering consultancy Ricardo – a company exceptionally well versed in the process of taking advanced engineered products into production – we’ll be offering some insights into the practical steps that organizations’ can take to put their technology firmly on the path to production.
During the week, alongside The Engineer’s usual smorgasboard of case studies, comments and news we’ll also be hearing from some of Ricardo’s leading engineers on different aspects of the industrialising innovation challenges: beginning today with Martin Starkey, MD of Ricardo’s performance products business, who sets the scene nicely for this week’s coverage.
Also, don’t forget to join us for our not to be missed panel discussion on Wednesday at 2pm in which a cross-sector panel of industry experts drawn from the automotive, manufacturing, medical and energy sectors will offer their insights into into some of the strategies, tools, technologies and skills that organisations can use to rapidly scale up manufacturing capability and streamline the path to production. Click here to register for free now.
As always, we look forward to hearing from all of our readers over the coming days and would like to encourage you all to join the debate and share your thoughts on this important topic.
The biggest issue for any new invention is the cost of patent protection, which any investor requires an inventor to have on their invention. The patent system, which originally was designed to protect the inventor, has now gone full circle , and instead protects the large companies that have the financial resources to obtain and prosecute a granted patent. The other issue is the professional services required, which have to be paid before the inventor makes any money.
Agreed. A simple patent to granting in the UK is about £10k. If you are rich enough that you can regard it as entertainment it’s a good system.
Yes John, the whole scheme is broken. The only workable solution, in a globalised economy, is to have a single body (WIPO) to grant patents and scrap all the national POs. A patent could be filed for a nominal fee and the system funded by the governments that reap the reward (directly or indirectly). Annual renewal fees, over at least fifty years, from each valid patent would be the main source of revenue. Profits from medicines/vaccines and GM foods should be strictly limited under international regulations. Anything less is inhuman and indefensible.
The original purpose of patent rights was to encourage the disclosure of advances in technology by protecting inventors from the theft of their intellectual property by competitors who didn’t invest anything in the necessary R&D or a new production process.
When the cost of patents puts them out of reach of many inventors, it defeats the whole object. As a consequence, I have been forced to keep numerous inventions secret over the past 40 years.
The Director of the Technium incubator network was incredulous when I said I wanted to assign the IP rights of Stable Suspension to Technium Performance Engineering.
“WHY would you do THAT?” – Simples, it would cost more than my home is worth. The lessons of history, ignored: i.e. The denial of the fundamental human right to own the IP you create:-
https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/63338/1/MacKenzie_etal_RS_2018_the_failure_of_a_flagship_innovation_policy_in_Wales.pdf
“In this case study analysis, the focus is on the Technium programme, which was the largest and most significant (£100m) innovation initiative implemented within Wales since devolution but is now widely regarded as a costly failure.” – Because there was NO money to secure patents.
True to form, the analysis failed to identify the root cause of that failure. i.e. University projects can rarely afford patents and the WAG and WDA refused any funding for them. . . .