Challenge

Our client was one of the world’s top refiners, producing over half a million barrels per day from its refineries. They were interested in increasing their patent portfolio through open innovation, thus improving their overall competitive offering. To achieve this goal, they were looking to identify innovative technologies in the downstream oil and gas sector.

Approach

The client provided Oxentia with a brief containing seven key focus areas or challenges they faced. Oxentia then developed technology trees for each of the seven challenges, highlighting the technology areas where solutions to these challenges could be found. The client then selected one area to conduct technology scouting. Oxentia developed a virtual portfolio of patents and opportunities of potential interest to the client and the client selected twenty of these for a deep dive and evaluation of the value of the opportunity to the client.

Impact 

Through Oxentia’s work, the client had potential opportunities for collaboration and development with eighteen companies and two technology research programmes in their key innovation challenge area. The client could then approach these opportunities with the full knowledge of the value to the business and other opportunities in this area, with a view to collaborate, license or buy intellectual property (IP) to support their strategic goals