Global Appetite for Seafood
The global appetite for seafood is increasing dramatically. Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food production sector, and it’s also one undergoing significant innovation, particularly to meet the uptick in demand. Finding environmentally efficient, sustainable alternatives to combat food insecurity has become increasingly important.
Hatch Blue is an aquaculture innovation company founded in 2017. Its mission is to catalyze farmed and alternative seafood innovation through responsible investment, expertise, and insights. The company hopes to achieve the smallest possible footprint of farmed and alternative seafood, for the benefit of the oceans, terrestrial ecosystems, and future generations. In its first two years of operation, Hatch Blue invested in more than 30 companies, ran three successful cohorts, raised its first $8M USD fund and established offices in Hawaii, Norway, and Singapore. The company operates on three main business units: an accelerator program, an investment fund, and providing consultancy and advisory services. From helping new startups develop business plans to investing into the sector to governments trying to develop this ecosystem, as well as large companies working to commercialize their products, Hatch Blue works with all aspects of aquaculture innovation.
Swimming with Bigger Sharks
Dr. Claude Kaplan is the IP Commercialization Expert at Hatch Blue. With over 20 years of IP experience, he uses his expertise to support Hatch and its portfolio of companies through the provision of training and mentoring on all aspects of intellectual property, IP commercialization strategies, competitor and market intelligence, FTO, as well as performing due diligence on potential investments.
Having access to quality data about innovation, technology, and intellectual property is a critical component of Claude’s role. He often finds himself explaining why IP is the most important part of a business’s bottom line. “It’s the only thing that protects you, because when you’re a startup working in innovation, inevitably you’re swimming with a lot bigger sharks.” He explains what sets you apart is when you can do something better, quicker, and cheaper than your competitors— all while maintaining your competitive advantage by protecting your IP. As such, having the data to understand where a company’s IP fits within the landscape, among what competitors are doing, is critical.
Prior to using PatSnap, Hatch Blue made use of open sources databases (public databases), but quickly realized they lacked the “richness” Claude was looking for. They could use them to search and identify patents, but when it came to analyzing trends or finding associated technologies, they fell short. As such, they turned to PatSnap to provide their team with a more informed and detailed picture of the patent landscape.
Commercial Advantage of IP
When looking to invest in a company, IP is critical, as are the details of what that IP actually means to the company’s commercial objectives. According to Claude, saying, “I have a patent” is a meaningless statement. “What has meaning is understanding specifically what that patent allows you to do, and more importantly what it stops your competitors from doing.” For this type of due diligence, Claude uses PatSnap’s scope of data to analyze the commercial advantage of having certain patents, as well as where potential competitors may sit. Secondarily, for bigger projects, Claude looks at the patent landscapes. This enables him to get an understanding of key players, what they’re patenting, in what countries, and who is citing who, allowing him to consult or advise a client on the space they are in, or potentially want to move into, as well as the focus or trajectory of their competitors.
Improved Productivity
Since transitioning to PatSnap, Hatch Blue noticed an uptick in productivity. Claude notes, “We’ve experienced approximately a 30 to 40% increase in the speed of our IP searches. It’s so much quicker with PatSnap! The improved productivity is a huge value-add for our clients. For the same fee, they are getting so much more insight.” Some of the key features contributing to this increase include:
- PatSnap’s user Interface. The user interface of PatSnap’s software is “so simple and intuitive, it really is very easy to navigate, and setting up and filtering a search is nearly effortless.”
- Email Alerts. After setting up a search, Claude often sets up an alert on top of that dataset. “It’s so simple and quick, making it one of the biggest advantages of PatSnap over previous systems I’ve used.”
- Analytics. This is an essential feature to Claude, “It creates a set of template figures, which are often 75% of what I needed, meaning I don’t have to spend a lot of time creating graphs and figures because it’s already done it for me.”
When asked, Claude believes PatSnap offers Hatch Blue with a competitive advantage because the analytics the company extracts from the software—all in a fraction of the time— provides more value to their clients. Claude encourages others to test out and experience the PatSnap user interface. “Test it out! Compare it to what you use now and see how effortless it really is. “
