A recent project with companies based around Turin in Italy spotlights Sisvel’s commitment to translating tech prowess into social innovation

By Alessandra Mosca and Enrique Valido

Sisvel Tech recently participated in an event organised by Social Innovation Monitor (SIM), a project at the Polytechnic University of Turin dedicated to exploring the intersection of sustainability, open innovation and corporate welfare. This year’s theme, “Open Innovation and Sustainability: Best Practices in Welfare & HR Management”, provided a platform for Sisvel to get local companies thinking about how employee learning strategies can help companies stay ahead of emerging IP trends and technological transformations.

As a core partner of the SIM project, Sisvel asked companies to envision how to equip people with the skills needed to identify and leverage emerging shifts in technology. Participants were called on to devise training plans that could be scaled up in phases and bolstered by IP-driven intelligence tools.

The challenge was conceived in part to showcase Sisvel’s own culture of continuous learning. Providing ample training and development opportunity has enabled us to build a technical talent pool based in Italy that is unparalleled among patent licensing administrators.

It also highlights Sisvel’s focus on social innovation and how we share these values, especially within the tech and startup ecosystem around Turin, where we have our roots.

The challenge

Sisvel’s business is all about the benefits that accrue to companies that stay on the leading edge of technology and take a long-term view of investing in R&D. Through active involvement in standards bodies, Sisvel Tech has learned first-hand that monitoring IP and tech trends can also create indirect business value, even for firms that do not directly engage in patenting and standards contribution.

Talented people are at the heart of every innovative company. Training and development opportunities are a key area in which tech firms compete for human resources. Sisvel provides employees with specialised training in intellectual property as well as other technical fields that help them excel in their roles. Staff are also sponsored to attend online courses of their choice through platforms such as Coursera.

Sisvel shared its experience in these areas with the companies participating in the challenge. We were delighted to see the solutions they proposed for integrating these values into HR strategies that emphasise tech forecasting and employee upskilling.

Alessandra Mosca of Sisvel Tech presents the challenge

Innovative solutions proposed

The challenge prompted lots of interesting ideas, just a few of which are summarised here.

Startup studio 12Venture and edtech company RadicalHR presented their concept for a ‘Tech Trend Observatory’. The solution emphasised creating a knowledge hub focused on monitoring trends, cultivating an innovation mindset and providing networking opportunities. A detailed implementation plan covered hosting events to boost the organisation’s profile within the tech ecosystem, organising internal workshops to exchange know-how and discuss technology developments and implementing an ‘On Demand Academy’ to provide continuous training to employees. These projects would enable the company to produce public-facing materials such as tech megatrend reports, providing further opportunities to build its brand and attract partners.

Digit'Ed, a professional and management training specialist, proposed a ‘Corporate Academy’ concept. The plan began with mapping the existing competencies and working closely with stakeholders to identify training needs. But the result was an employee learning system that goes well beyond basic training and aims at higher-level goals such as disseminating corporate culture and values, instilling leadership skills and equipping employees to excel in change management. This proposal was a good reminder that corporate learning should be about much more than filling knowledge gaps.

Djungle Studio is a ‘startup factory’ that rapidly iterates venture ideas: the goal is to ‘kill’ startups quickly before the market does, enabling a focus on only the most promising ideas and projects. Drawing on this methodology, its team proposed a system for analysing the entire workflow from examining IP and technology trends through to employee training. A ‘discovery’ stage identifies core problems with the company’s existing practices around employee training and tech monitoring. That is followed by a ‘validation’ stage which consists of a series of iterative tests designed to find the most effective solution. It’s a rigorous approach that emphasises the power of trying new ideas boldly and quickly.

Redefining the tech workplace

For the Sisvel Tech team who attended, the challenge emphasised just how much value there is in engaging with the startup community in Turin and participating in local initiatives around social innovation. Powering innovation isn’t just about understanding the technical details in a certain field – it requires creating an environment where people and ideas thrive. The team left this exercise with plenty of new ideas about how to strengthen Sisvel’s position as a reservoir of tech talent and a leader in IP insights.

Alessandra Mosca is a Research and Development Engineer and Enrique Valido is a Patent Engineer with Sisvel Tech