The Nuon Solar Team is putting its knowledge about solar-powered cars down on record in order to benefit from the experience the world champions have built up over the years. On the basis of fifteen years’ experience, the team is applying the most innovative technologies to its solar-powered racing car Nuna 8, which is currently being built.
“The knowledge that’s been built up over a number of years can be applied more effectively”, explains Bernard Ledeboer of V.O., a specialist in intellectual property. As a new sponsor, V.O. will help the Nuon Solar Team take full advantage of its intellectual property.
“It’s all about dealing with intellectual property in a conscious and strategic manner”, explains Bernard Ledeboer of V.O. Ledeboer is a graduate of Delft University of Technology himself, and explains, “The solar racing team changes every other year. This means that new students are constantly involved. It is important that it is clear who owns the knowledge and in which ways it is applied. This is because all sorts of innovations are developed over the years, and these have a commercial value that the team can cash in on. The question is who profits from it, and in which way. V.O. is helping the team find the answer.”
Nuon Solar Team’s solar car is redesigned every year and built by hand. This means that the students are constantly innovating and working with technologies and materials that can, for example, appear in the cars of the future. “It’s primarily an investment in the future, so that students from the Nuon Solar Team can keep innovating amongst the global elite”, Ledeboer explains.
Nuon Solar Team’s team leader Mark Hupkens welcomes the collaboration with the new sponsor. “We often get requests from organisations that want to work with us. And that’s great, of course, but we’re working with expensive machines and materials which our sponsors have contributed a great deal towards in the past years. As the Nuon Solar Team, we can draw on the fifteen years’ experience of former team members. The question is whether this expertise should be given to companies all over the world for free, and with nothing in return. In any case, the first step involves thinking about it and putting things down on record. V.O. Patents & Trademarks is helping us do this, and we’re extremely happy about that.”
