Service offering

Technology innovation

Technology product brand owners are under intense price and competitive pressure in today’s global marketplace. Consumers too have grown in sophistication. Extra bells and whistles are no longer the passport to commercial success: users are demanding value, functionality and ease of use.

Whilst recognising that technology innovation is essential for success, achieving it is a dilemma for many companies who struggle to justify the cost of large in-house R&D teams.  During the 1990s many companies cut back on in-house R&D and are now reluctant to reinvest.

At Sagentia, we have over 20 years’ experience of working with clients in the area of technology innovation.  Our involvement usually starts when a company identifies a need for which no technical answer currently exists.  Our approach is based on: 

• the identification of new opportunities arising from a thorough appreciation and knowledge of the scientific options available, and business insights
  
• an ability to solve challenging technical problems even when confronted with significant commercial and economic constraints
  
• a culture that actively encourages the input of a broad range of insights and expertise from across the organisation

To do this we have built a special team of scientists, technologists and engineers, most educated to PhD level and beyond.  However, what really differentiates us in the marketplace is the industrial and business experience each team member brings to Sagentia.  It is the combination of scientific flair and commercial acumen that provides the creative platform to generate innovative technology solutions.

At Sagentia a technology innovation project typically involves the following phases: 

• a divergent idea-generation phase.  This creative stage is designed to generate a large number of ideas which may be relevant to the end objective
  
• a convergent phase, where a set of economic and commercial boundaries are applied to reduce the creative output to a small number of well-defined ideas.  This involves feasibility studies to determine whether a practical or commercial embodiment is technically robust and fit for purpose
  
• using our in-house laboratory facilities we will often construct a proof of principle technology demonstrator

This phased approach has led, over the past 20 years, to the invention of a number of ground breaking technologies in fields including retail security, clinical diagnostics, drug delivery systems, consumer durables, industrial automation and industrial products. 

Following completion of our innovation technology service, we transfer knowledge arising from the project to our client.  Often however, the client asks us to continue working with them during the product development and commercialisation stages.  Maintaining the partnership throughout the entire process reduces time to market and avoids potential problems with innovation dilution.