During the Phase 1 of the SME Instrument PassivDom Ltd. has completed the activities set out in the work packages, and achieved a clear understanding on how to move forward with business development and up-scale of the PassivDom houses on a global level. Following activities have been completed:
1)Market research. It helped to better understand the market trends in residential construction, clearly define the target market for PassivDom houses, identify users' needs, estimate the size of the market, and develop competitive advantage of PassivDom in the global market. Main findings:
• Demand for prefabricated houses is rising rapidly. Moreover, customers are now looking not just for good and durable houses but also for a smart, energy efficient and mobile;
• Germany and France are the top 2 countries by value of residential construction, followed by the UK, Italy, and Spain;
• The USA residential construction market is still recovering from the 2008 crisis and forecasted to robust to 2020;
• The market of modern prefabricated housing is relatively new and therefore fast growing. It is mostly occupied by companies producing houses with a limited number of features and, even though, they pretend to be innovative, they use quite outdated technologies.
All the above mentioned findings prove that PasivDom houses will have demand in the global market due to the high growth rates of residential and prefabricated housing markets and also because PassivDom will provide solution to the biggest challenges and problems in residential construction.
2) User needs research and analysis. Four target customer groups for PassivDom were identified. During the 6 months of the Feasibility study and 1 month before that, CEO Maxim Gerbut and CMO Julia Gerbut visited 4 professional conferences and exhibitions, where they gave public speeches on specific topics related to their innovation. In these conferences, Maxim and Julia could challenge their assumptions, identify potential customers’ needs and get feedback from industry leaders and potential customers. They made numerous contacts with large potential B2B and B2C clients.
3) IPR Strategy development. PaasivDom Ltd. with the help of the patent attorney researched the patent landscape and conducted freedom to operate analysis for PassivDom houses. Patents and trademarks applications were prepared for submitting. The plan for next steps in IPR protection was developed together with lawyers.
4) Manufacturing and sales partnership development. In R&D PassivDom established a partnership with two leading European Research Institutes: The Passive House Institute (PHI), and Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). Also, PassivDom Ltd. found a manufacturing partner and key suppliers in USA. Now PassivDom is focused on searching of sales partners in Europe and USA.
5) Business Model and Comprehensive Business Plan. Subsequently, all of the findings were translated into an elaborated Business Plan. PassivDom Ltd., with the help of external experts, developed the business model for PassivDom houses and designed next steps and actions for further implementation of the project.
Two main business lines have been identified for PassivDom. Both business lines are interrelated and interdependent. The first business line, sales of PassivDom houses, will be the main business line, generating the biggest revenue. Another one will be subscription (not obligatory). The sales plan and financial model were developed, and the funding requirements for further development of the company were calculated.
