By Christian Hackl

As established players in the industry did not take the start-up Orcan and its new technology seriously, Orcan had to pivot its business model and go the arduous path to develop and install stand-alone products by themselves. Nevertheless, they still had to convince established players to become partners in this process. Due to the asymmetry between a large company and a small start-up, which exists in several dimensions, it was very difficult to have these discussions on the same eye level. That is where Orcan’s solid patent base proofed very helpful.The further developed business model of fully integrating Orcan’s products into installations of large players provides significant benefits for the customer and the co-operation partners, but again it was very difficult to convince the established companies of these synergies. Due to further R&D efforts, Orcan was able to prove the advantages. By securing the additional IPR, they could even further strengthen their sustainable position in the market.