The work was divided in 6 tasks and overall the result has proven feasibility for the innovation project. We want to proceed to a phase 2 project with user driven demonstration activities within advanced homecare as the primary application of the Inlose platform. The tasks were:
Task 1 Mapping of potential demonstrations
Based on the market study, an analysis of technical challenges facing the end-users in that market and regulatory requirements (both existing and up-coming changes) we have decided to focus on Health Care/Advanced Homecare as the priority application for first demonstration actions for the Inclose platform.
Task 2 Investigation of potential partners
We have identified several partner categories to be involved in either during development and/or commercialization, i.e. knowledge partners (offer access to research and in-depth knowledge around specific challenges), business partners (Integrators/Builders), value added service partners (Development, Testing, Maintenance, Support and/or Training) and market accelerators (offer support in building sales channels and finding right partners in appointed market segments and/or geographical areas).
Task 3 Market study
The headings of the market study include a description of the Inclose offer, customer values, key market applications, key market drivers (mainly internet of things and Regulatory changes on data protection), market segment analysis, initial market introduction, market trends, business model and challenges, geographical markets, market barriers, growth rate, reachable market and commercialization.
Task 4 Risk analysis
A risk analysis has been developed to secure the measurement values and methods to be used in the demonstration phase to provide valid results. We have used two different methods to analyse the risks. First of all we used a SWOT – for evaluation of overall business risk, presenting our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. A risk mitigation plan is presented for the overall business risks at company level (financial, market, IPR).
Task 5 Elaboration of an innovation strategy and IPR strategy
During the project we have done two rounds of patent searches and found no existing patent that was a major threat to our innovation i.e. we have full freedom to operate. The patent search was done by Search a Patent during the period of August until end of November 2015. Patent search results and evaluation of patents are presented in the report core. The evaluation included an analysis of the impact on Inclose, risk mitigation plan to handle existing IPR risks and an analysis of who/which company owned the patent. Task 5 also included the development of a strategy for intellectual property rights. Inclose will use intellectual property (IP) and the protection IP to secure our intellectual property and knowhow to establish a strong position on the market.
Task 6 Elaboration of the European and global dimension
We have came to the conclusion that we initially need to base our funding strategy on a combination of public funding (public VC, grants and loans), own resources and bootstrapping i.e. organic growth
