How EY’s innovation hub gets the most out of startup IP

For those that haven’t been paying attention to aerospace innovation, a visit to this edition of the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) is an eye opener. 

There were over 400 companies exhibiting products over the broad spectrum of “future flight” from tiny startups to potential unicorns and legacy players, more so than any other show — even though the event did not feature the Air Mobility Showcase as was seen at last year’s Paris Air Show. 

For those startups developing intellectual property (IP), protecting but also squeezing every possible drop of value out of that property will be essential to realising whatever goal the founders’ have in mind. 

Since launching its EY-Nottingham Spirk Innovation Hub post-pandemic in October 2021, global professional services firm EY has been taking an active role in helping startups achieve this. The 66,000sqft (6,131sqm) facility in Cleveland, Ohio helps businesses across five key strategic areas: product and service innovation, business model transformation, digitalisation, customer experience and supply chain.

Revolution.Aero caught up with Stephane Lagut, EY’s Global Aerospace & Defense Leader (pictured inset) at FIA to discuss the firm’s ongoing work at its hub. 

“We are working with a number of players in the industry — the integrators, the engine or propulsion manufacturers and, of course, the startup ecosystem. We help to manage the project and resilience of the supply chain, but also we assist with definition and designing new business models for these companies to be a success. It is all about working together,” Lagut told us. “In particular, we help members in the ecosystem better leverage or better optimise the usage of their IP.”

Lagut notes that in the aviation industry, like many other industries, companies are developing items for specific purposes. That could be an actuator for a specific aircraft type or a zero-emissions propulsion system. 

“But then that very specific IP can be slightly amended and could be used by many others across a variety of industries for other purposes and so on,” said Lagut. “That is very true in areas such as chemicals or composite materials. When we think about lighter, safer, stronger materials, these could be as applicable in aircraft and submarines.”

Lagut sees EY’s Innovation Hub as a “matchmaker” that brings together companies to better leverage use of their IP creating a funding source which furthers the in-house development programme.

So what role does the hub play in all of this? Lagut said the idea is that a startup can access the facility and “do innovation from top to bottom”.  

“You have EY people help to design your business model, product or whatever it is. Then you can go downstairs and speak to Nottingham Spirk who have hands-on experience in development and allow you test your product. So you start with the ideation and the matchmaking of IPs, then you can go into the workshop where we have the tooling to build prototypes,” explained Lagut.

What the hub does is a step change for EY, moving from consultancy to a proactive, hands-on approach, said Lagut. “If we are able to bring the owner of the IP or the startup, someone who is able to finance and someone who is able to produce, that is so much more powerful than providing a deck of slides. That is what we want to do.”