CUSTOMER PROBLEM

Sorting through a growing influx of competing patents

Monitoring has always been a key concern for Babolat's management.

Keeping an eye on new patents, having an accurate overview of the existing situation, anticipating future market developments, exploring avenues for innovation: these are all crucial challenges for the brand's R&D engineers.

But with the ever-increasing number of patents filed each year by competitors, how can one make sense of it all? Collecting, sorting, and classifying information is crucial. Disseminating it effectively is equally important, especially for product engineers who are not accustomed to reading patents.

THE TKM SOLUTION

Artificial intelligence and human expertise

Each month, over a thousand new patents are filed internationally. All of them are potentially of interest to Babolat. Leveraging the power of AI, the TKM monitoring software filters them (by theme, relevance level, etc.) to submit around a hundred key patents to Babolat teams via a newsletter. While the time saved is appreciated, the newsletter is gradually proving insufficient given the explosion in the number of published documents.

An additional service was then implemented. TKM offered Babolat's R&D team a monthly debriefing to focus on the twenty-five to thirty key patents and stakeholders. This exchange, called "Open Watch," lasted forty-five minutes and took place a few days after the newsletter was sent. Here, collective intelligence came into play: ideas emerged, questions arose, and new projects took shape.

AND WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN?

Having a wealth of knowledge is a key asset for innovation

At any time, Babolat engineers can connect to the TKM software platform to leverage the information gathered year after year. They query it, share it, and generate their own graphs and analyses. In this way, the company builds a knowledge base over time, a true key asset for its ability to innovate.

• Comprehensive and classified information on competitor activity;

• Increased dissemination to minimize the risk of missing key information;

• Better sharing of ideas within teams;

• A considerable time saver.