UPM-Biofore-Magazine-2-2017-ENG

“Developing a new product is like going on an expedition. It’s a long journey where new routes open up along the way, allowing us to develop materials for different end-use applications. This journey also leads to new technologies being discovered and patents being filed to protect them.” – Jyrki Ovaska

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applications such as resin adhesives. “Another good example of a patent- protected innovation is the GrowDex hydrogel used for cell cultures in laboratory research,” says Mika Timmerbacka , Director, IPR at UPM. He notes that patents and other intellectual property rights continue to play an important role in traditional UPMbusinesses as well. “It’s absolutely crucial inmaintaining our competitive edge in areas such as paper and pulp production. We need even better technical solutions and innovations to utilise wood, chemicals, energy and water more efficiently than before. We protect innovations that help to boost production by applying for patents on them.” Partners playing a more prominent role According to Timmerbacka, the company’s own R&D activity plays a central role in creating innovations. New ideas to streamline operations are also born spontaneously in the production facilities. In other cases, innovations are directly spurred by discussions with customers. “The customer interface is a point where we see the customer’s needs and challenges up close. Then we can start

considering new kinds of solutions to meet them.” Timmerbacka emphasises the importance of different partner networks in developing new solutions. UPM collaborates with parties such as equipment manufacturers and has a long history of partnering with universities and research institutions on various research projects. “Today, operations related to innovation involve more andmore collaboration and discussion with our partners. The intellectual property rights held by UPMprovide a strong backboard for the negotiations and help us to reach favourable agreements,” Timmerbacka says. Agreements made with partners play an essential part in intellectual property rights management. “We need to agree onmatters related to intellectual property rights at an early stage, long before the innovation is commercialised. This helps us to prevent any disputes in advance,” Timmerbacka states. Executive Vice President of Technology Jyrki Ovaska says that new business areas also lead to new kinds of partners becoming involved. UPM is for instance collaborating with several start-ups developing new

“Another good example of a patent-protected innovation is the GrowDex

hydrogel used for cell cultures in laboratory research.” – Mika Timmerbacka

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