A prestigious innovation award has been presented to patent and trade mark attorneys at Forresters for the work they have done supporting businesses during the pandemic.
Forresters was presented with the Manufacturing Innovation Champion – Business of the Year prize at the Innovation Awards, which took place at Birmingham’s Millennium Point. At the event were two of the firm’s senior associates – Dr Jagvir Purewal and Greg Smith, who said they were thrilled to be presented with the prize.
“It is fantastic to receive this award, which is an acknowledgement of the work Forresters does with the whole innovation community, from sole inventors to researchers, academics and established businesses,” said Jagvir. “Also shortlisted for the Manufacturing Innovation Champion of the Year award were business coaches, accountants and a tax credit team, which are seen as the bread and butter organisations for SMEs. To stand up against these businesses and win the award shows how vital it is for companies to protect their intellectual property (IP).”
Greg added: “Over the last year we have listened to the business community and made changes to ensure we can still continue to help companies move their innovations forward. This has been particularly important during the last 12 months as several companies have been created, while others have diversified, in the battle against Covid-19. These inventions have a lasting legacy because of the people they have protected, and the lives they have helped save.”
The awards are supported by Aston, Coventry, Wolverhampton and Birmingham City Universities, and celebrate the innovation shown by businesses, organisations and individuals over the last year.
One of the businesses that Forresters has helped is AerosolShield, which was created to help medical professionals on the frontline in response to Covid. Two of the founders, Matthew Campbell-Hill and Dr Richard Williams, work at the University of Birmingham and the business is based at Birmingham Research Park in Edgbaston. Inventors at AerosolShield created a disposable mini pop-up tent, which forms a protective barrier around a patient, so life-saving treatment can be carried out without the risk of infection.
Matthew Campbell-Hill said: “Our team of clinicians and medical technology specialists came together, because we were really concerned with how many NHS frontline staff were becoming infected with Covid. We created the company within days so we could react quickly to the pandemic. We spoke to Medilink, which supports the growth of the healthcare technology sector, and were put in touch with Forresters. The help we received from Forresters was incredible. Their attorneys identified key IP and connected us with local grant funding. Within ten weeks we had successfully applied for over £500,000 of funding. Securing the patents we needed was a key part of the funding because many of the investors asked about our IP position. The work Forresters did for us proved to be critical in ensuring we were able to get our invention out to places such as GP surgeries, care homes and hospitals.”
Attorneys at Forresters also helped train the AerosolShield team so they could innovate quickly on different projects while still making sure their IP was identified and robustly protected.
Forresters has also worked with green tech entrepreneur Colin Teasdale on an invention which could have far-reaching benefits for people around the world. Details of the invention are currently confidential, however Colin, who is from Birmingham, said: “As an engineer the process of applying for a patent was completely alien to me. However, Forresters helped and guided me through every step in detail. From the searches to the final writing up of the patent documentation, the level of conscientiousness, due diligence and technical expertise they demonstrated on my behalf was very reassuring. It cannot be overstated to what extent I value my partnership with Forresters during this process, one which will no doubt continue.”
For more information on Forresters visit https://forresters-ip.com/
