Viticultural Innovation Commercialisation

Project Case Study

EverEdge IP assisted a viticulture enterprise with the commercialisation of its vine pruning technology; from assessing the strength of its intellectual property position to crafting an optimal commercialisation strategy. More importantly we provided critical on-going support throughout the implementation of the strategy which includes advising on the pitching and negotiation of the technology to major agricultural machinery manufacturers in North America and Europe.

About Client

The client has extensive experience in growing and managing vineyards. Such expertise resulted in the development of a new vine pruning mechanisation technology that solves important problems for vineyards and significantly reduces labour requirements and costs as well as improving the quality of vine growth.

The Business Problem

The client did not know the best approach to commercialise the technology. The client was not interested in exporting manufactured machines preferred to create an on-going income via licensing. Challenges lay firstly in the inherent industry-changing nature of the technology and secondly in successfully negotiating deals to push the product into major offshore markets without having the intellectual property misappropriated by the larger players the client needed to work with. EverEdge IP was approached to assist the client with its entire commercialisation process.

EverEdge IP Solution

EverEdge IP worked with the client's management, technical personnel and Board to fully understand the technology and its industry-changing implications. By leveraging our international licensing expertise and experience, we quickly identified key problems the client would likely face. One such problem was the technology was so game-changing and powerful, that product demand may exceed the client's partners' ability to supply. We analysed the intellectual property position of the technology and determined that there were considerable incentives for competitors to enter the market with copies and the Client's technology was at great risk of misappropriation if the supply could not keep up with industry demand. We crafted a set of strategies which took into account this problem and developed a comprehensive range of solutions that has ultimately positioned the client to maximise the return from their technology and avoid potential game losing strategic moves. EverEdge IP continues to work very closely with the client during its negotiation phase with large offshore players and at every step along the commercialisation path.

The Result

The client understands the scope of their intellectual property protection and is better prepared to negotiate and commercialise the technology to extract maximum value.