The certainty that the legal, financial and economic aspects of projects and partnerships are secure and resilient increases both the acceptance within your own company and the probability of success of co-operations despite possible barriers on the way to profitable collaboration.
Finding potential partners is not difficult in a strong network like Composites United.
Imagine you are on the cusp of a major collaboration that has the potential to transform your business: Joint product development could significantly shorten the time from conception to market launch. Collaboration would optimise development cycles and increase process efficiency. Interdisciplinary knowledge, joint planning and parallel work streams make it possible to accelerate development processes and bring products to market faster.
However, uncertainties and concerns can arise that could jeopardise the entire project even before it begins.
Challenges on the path to cooperative collaboration
There are various reasons why companies are reluctant to use collaborations, co-operations or business ecosystems to achieve their strategic goals. One reason for this can be negative experiences in the past. If previous collaborations have failed due to misunderstandings, unequal distribution of resources or different objectives, for example, a cautious approach is understandable.
Legal concerns are another important factor. Many companies are rightly concerned about the protection of their intellectual property and trade secrets. The fear that confidential information could be passed on to competitors or that patent rights could be infringed makes them cautious about working closely together. Furthermore, there is the complexity of contracts and agreements that are required in co-operations or ecosystems.
Uncertainty about the economic benefits often plays a role. If the management is not sure whether the investment in a cooperation or ecosystem will bring significant added value or a competitive advantage, or if the results are not immediately visible, it can be difficult for the initiators to obtain the approval of the management level.
For researchers and engineers in companies, this means that they need to consider not only the technical and scientific aspects of collaboration, but also these potential barriers and concerns.
Actively overcoming barriers to co-operation
In order to promote the acceptance and success of collaborations and ecosystems, managers such as innovation, R&D and partnership managers must, among other things, demonstrate the economic benefits, select partners specifically, set clear goals and expectations, create and negotiate legal frameworks, manage risk, clarify funding and resource issues, carry out pilot projects, bring processes together and promote effective communication and a culture of collaboration.
Groups such as Deutsche Bahn are anchoring these diverse and interdisciplinary tasks in their own organisational units. A privilege that is often not available to many small and medium-sized companies. This is where external experts who can help overcome bureaucratic or organisational challenges can be crucial. Not every competence has to be built up and covered internally.
Legal, commercial and tax law tasks in particular can be covered by external specialists. They provide essential support for legal and strategic challenges that arise in technology-intensive sectors. Their external perspective helps to recognise hidden opportunities and provides an objective basis for decisions that take into account the technological, monetary and business aspects.
Patent attorneys and lawyers, for example, make a decisive contribution to securing the legal basis for co-operations. For example, by drafting individual contracts, negotiating fair licence agreements and ensuring the protection of trade secrets, existing and newly developed intellectual property and effective technology transfer. Management consultants complement this legal protection with their ability to analyse complex economic and strategic data, translate it into reliable financial and project plans and position them on the market. Tax advisors bring an objective, data-driven perspective to business decisions and help to make informed, balanced decisions.
About the white ip | Group
The white ip | Group combines experts from the fields of law, business and finance to meet the interdisciplinary requirements of innovative SMEs and scientific organisations in establishing and maintaining collaborations and ecosystems. We are convinced that, especially in technology-intensive areas, bureaucratic, personnel or organisational challenges should not be an obstacle to prospective collaborations.
