Innovation

Continuing development and innovation is vital for TWI's long-term prosperity and reputation. Support of idea generation and funding of exploratory projects are provided, and stage gate processes are used to manage distinct inventions and intellectual property exploitation. TWI is actively exploiting 13 distinct innovations and has 137 granted patents on its books, with a further 53 patent applications being pursued. Registered trademarks relating to nine innovations were in place in 2007. The licence income approached £1.5m in 2007 and grew by 10% compared with 2006.

All licence royalties are reinvested in TWI for the benefit of the membership as a whole and these fund the development of new ideas. In addition to the direct monetary benefits, the associated income arising from TWI's innovation portfolio, including new members and contract work, is at least five times the licence income.

An internal research committee encourages, monitors and directs TWI's invention and innovation activities. Once an innovation is thought to be worthy of protection, a formal stage gate procedure is employed to ensure structured exploitation.

TWI is active in the field of Open Innovation with other RTOs and TWI Members This is a procedure where organisations work together to find the best routes to the exploitation of an idea without being over concerned about where the idea originated. Work includes building trust and underlying commercial arrangements with potential collaborators, understanding the key needs of particular clients and developing IP assets to meet these needs.