SoftwareOne case study

University of Portsmouth pre-launch startup makes patent research easier

IPitome is an easy-to-use tool for academics and startups to quickly find and understand relevant patent data in order to verify whether their research outputs have commercial potential and do not infringe existing patents. IPitome therefore supports universities, and their academics, commercialise their research portfolios efficiently.

As experts in intellectual property rights, Joe Sekhon at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom and Fredrik Edman at Lund University in Sweden have seen many students, researchers and entrepreneurs struggle to find the information they need when searching patent databases. Founded by Joe and supported by Fredrick, IPitome is a pre-launch startup that makes the searching of patent databases easier and the subsequent search results easier to understand. Joe and Fredrick’s goal is to help IPitome’s users quickly find the most relevant information they need to determine whether their research outputs can be patented.

Supported by a Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) grant from the University of Portsmouth, Joe turned to SoftwareOne for help. SoftwareOne provided the expertise to help develop the IPitome tool and began discussions with Joe to understand the solution requirements to help inform which technologies should be used. Based on its relationship and expertise with AWS, SoftwareOne recommended using AWS Amplify and Amazon Kendra and helped IPitome obtain project funding from AWS. AWS Amplify was chosen because it provides a serverless, full-stack development platform that’s fast to deploy and easy to use, while Amazon Kendra enables enterprise-level capabilities for searching patent data. SoftwareOne then pulled together a team of data and AI experts to assess the project’s requirements and begin building the solution.

Can search >220K patents
and more than 517K patent applications
Accurate search results
comparable to results from competing search platforms
Reliable classification
of results using IPitome’s traffic light system

Client: University of Portsmouth/IPitome
Industry: Education, Information technology
Platform: AWS Cloud
Services: Cloud Services: AWS Cloud Services, Data and AI Services App Services
Country: United Kingdom

Helping startups save time with better patent insights

After establishing an advice clinic for student and graduate entrepreneurs at the University of Portsmouth called iPass (Intellectual Property Advice Support Service), Joe realised the immense challenge faced by fledgling innovators in locating the patent data needed to guide their startups. Most patent databases are notoriously complex, requiring substantial expertise to navigate and interpret. Recognising the need for a more user-friendly solution, Joe was inspired by the burgeoning field of machine learning and AI tools and initiated a dialogue with Fredrik about developing a search tool that would simplify patent research for startups.

One significant hurdle with patent databases is that users struggle to optimise searches for existing patents that might be similar to their own ideas. This critical knowledge could enable them to change direction and refine their concepts, potentially saving months or even years of wasted effort on ideas that might have led to a dead end.

Additionally, larger organisations hold an advantage over smaller startups that can't afford to hire patent lawyers, making it challenging for these smaller entities to bring their ideas to fruition unless acquired. Joe and Fredrik believed that IPitome could help to balance the patent landscape. SoftwareOne began building the IPitome tool to help achieve the founders’ goals.

A group of students sitting around a table

Building an effective, AI-powered patent search and results solution

The SoftwareOne team worked with Joe and Fredrik to build a solution that could deliver the capabilities they were looking for. The IPitome platform uses Amazon Kendra, an intelligent enterprise search service, to help users find the information they need.

The solution will also use AWS Amplify to deploy the custom application as a web and mobile app. The IPitome platform can search through 100,000+ patent documents stored in Amazon S3 storage and in metadata to quickly identify matches to queries from the user interface.

Throughout the development, SoftwareOne’s certified AWS Solution Architects provided guidance on best practices while implementing and optimising the platform.

I met the SoftwareOne team at a trade conference. After learning how they had implemented a range of solutions using AWS AI and machine learning services, it made me think if they could help me with IPitome. When I explained my concept to them, they were excited to get involved and support us on the project.

Joe Sekhon

Founder, IPitome; Founder and Director of the Future of Law, Innovation and Technology Research and Innovation Centre (FLITe), University of Portsmouth; Associate Head of Research and Innovation at the University of Portsmouth, School of Law

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Developing the solution required substantial testing to refine the model, with results verified by checking against the results from standard patent database search tools. To limit the amount of data that had to be managed, all the tests involved searching a subset of just one patent database. The SoftwareOne team met regularly with Joe and Fredrik to discuss how the platform was performing and where it could be further optimised. Collaborating with SoftwareOne, Joe focused on developing the user interface and traffic light search results, while Fredrik concentrated on helping to develop the backend functions.

The SoftwareOne team designed the platform with a simple user interface and included a traffic light system to help users determine the patentability of their ideas. After entering keywords into a search box, users see results categorised into three areas: red for ideas already covered by existing patents with legally enforceable rights, amber for ideas that warrant further investigation to determine whether they’re patentable and green for ideas that appear to offer new patent opportunities. This makes it easier for users to understand where they can find the most relevant patent data before they begin making any commercial plans.

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Fine-tuning and launching the product to market

With the proof of concept completed, Joe and Fredrick are now in the process of subjecting it to rigorous testing by academics at both the University of Portsmouth and Lund University. This testing will involve academics entering information from their research outputs to see if there are any existing patents in the same area, or whether there are patent opportunities in one particular area of their research.

The existing tools out there are hard to use. You need to have a lot of in-depth knowledge, and it usually takes some years to understand how to extract knowledge from patent documents. When Joe and I first got together and started talking, we saw that we had a shared vision of wanting to innovate and disrupt the area of patent searches.

Fredrik Edman

Co-founder, IPitome; member; senior lecturer, researcher, and business advisor at Lund University

Joe says SoftwareOne was especially helpful in developing a user interface for the platform that, in addition to providing the functionality needed, conveyed the level of professionalism required for such an application.

SoftwareOne is keen to support the continued development of the platform to add scalability, with the goal of a public launch in summer 2026.

I can honestly say that, without the input of SoftwareOne, the user interface would have looked basic. They helped us with the branding colours and the traffic light system. The user interface looks professional and that, for me, speaks volumes of the quality of work.

Joe Sekhon

Founder, IPitome; Founder and Director of the Future of Law, Innovation and Technology Research and Innovation Centre (FLITe), University of Portsmouth; Associate Head of Research and Innovation at the University of Portsmouth, School of Law

University of Portsmouth pre-launch startup makes patent research easier

Can search >220K patents

Accurate search results

Reliable classification

Helping startups save time with better patent insights

Building an effective, AI-powered patent search and results solution

Could you benefit from a similar service?

Could you benefit from a similar service?

AWS and SoftwareOne

Fine-tuning and launching the product to market

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