#NEF From idea to patent: how the innovation voucher programme helps Ivano-Frankivsk businesses

      Marta Kondrin is a co-owner of a leather goods business. As an entrepreneur and researcher, she is interested in creating an eco-friendly alternative to leather. This is what Marta has been working on for more than a year now and has succeeded in creating prototypes of artificial leather from mushroom mycelium.

      It's not a new technology in the world, but when you go through this process from scratch, rather than using existing patents, researchers create their own technology in the process. In fact, the technology that Marta creates has differences from those already on the market.

      Marta used an innovative voucher for patenting this technology, which she received as the winner of the competition.

About the project and patenting the technology for growing
artificial leather from mushroom mycelium

      I learned about vouchers from social media and also heard about it at Promprylad. At that time, I got to know patents as a process. I talked to my business partner and after the conversation we decided that it was important to protect our ideas. Although, at first, I did not see the need to obtain a patent for the technology. I believed that patents are needed when you already have a big business, but this is not the case at all. She decided to apply for the innovation voucher programme, and after becoming one of the twenty winners, she and her patent attorney applied for a patent and a trademark. The most interesting thing was the process of preparing the patent - we worked with a specialist, wrote everything down, it was quite an interesting process, it was something new for me. I described the main points, and the technical specialist analysed existing technologies, compared them, and described the formula. We received a lot of recommendations for our process in the future.

      The patenting process takes 2 years. There is a verification process, and only after this process is completed can we get a certificate. In addition to the technology, it is also possible to patent the production process and the finished product, and this is in our plans.

      It is also important to patent a trade mark, because you can wake up one day and find that your name is already being used by another company.

      We worked actively with the patent attorney for about two months, when we were describing everything. In total, the whole process took about 3 months. But when we applied for the vouchers, we clearly understood what we were doing and why, so we managed to meet the deadline. We understood what kind of specialist to involve and what we wanted to get as a result.

      When you have a patent - you start to be taken more seriously. This is already a signal that you are not just creating something at home, but have serious intentions to use it in business, to develop your brand.

      Implement the "New Economy of Ivano-Frankivsk" project together with the Executive Committee of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, the Promprylad.Renovation, innovation center, the METALAB urban laboratory, the PPV Knowledge Networks economic development agency, and the Warm City platform.