News Archive
Munich, June 17, 2021: Shepard Fox supports European Patent Office announcing winners of the European Inventor Award 2021 via media campaigns in Switzerland, Sweden, Serbia, Norway, India, and the United States
The European Patent Office (EPO) today announced the winners of the European Inventor Award 2021, its prestigious annual innovation prize. The individuals and teams were recognized for their innovative contributions in the fields of nasal drug delivery, DNA-based data storage, nanomaterials in dentistry, solar cells for self-charging devices, organic semiconductors, and advances in tissue engineering. Shepard Fox supports the EPO in promoting the winners and the Award via global media relations including local media campaigns in the home countries of the winners: Switzerland, Sweden, Serbia, Norway, India and the U.S. The support comprises content creation, content localization, press release distribution, arranging interviews with TV, radio, print and online news media as well as with influencers, and media monitoring. “In these challenging times, it is inspiring to see the creativity and dedication shown by these inventors in bringing innovative solutions to the world,” said EPO President António Campinos. “Their achievements remind us that obstacles can be overcome by applying imagination, knowledge and ingenuity. The ability to take a new idea all the way to market also demands perseverance and a supportive environment for innovation, and the finalists and winners of the European Inventor Award 2021 are all testament to this.”
Munich, May 4, 2021: Celebrating the individuals behind the inventions that benefit us all – Shepard Fox supports the EPO in announcing the European Inventor Award 2021 finalists in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Serbia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, China, India, the US
The European Patent Office (EPO) today announced the 15 inventors shortlisted as finalists for the 2021 edition of the European Inventor Award. The EPO’s prestigious annual innovation prize, now in its 15th year, recognizes outstanding inventors who have made an exceptional contribution to technology, society, and economic growth. The finalists come from more than a dozen countries around the world and their inventions span fields ranging from diagnostics and ultrasound imaging to biometrics, sustainable plastic production, and wildlife protection. – Shepard Fox supports the EPO in promoting the inventors and their inventions with a global media relations campaign spanning 13 countries. The campaign comprises the development of local content, telling the story of the individual scientist or researcher behind an invention, as well as the creation of localized press releases. Furthermore, Shepard Fox is reaching out to media (TV, radio, general interest, business, and trade media) in the finalists’ home countries including Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Serbia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, China, India, and the US. A cornerstone of the media outreach is the arrangement of media interviews with the finalists, from TV appearances and interviews featured in online and print media, to podcasts.
Munich/Paris, April 27, 2021: More innovation in low-carbon energy technologies needed to meet climate goals – Shepard Fox supports International Energy Agency and European Patent Office in communicating key findings of latest clean energy study
The number of patents worldwide for inventions related to low-carbon energy technologies has fallen well below its rate of growth from 10 years ago, according to a new joint study published today by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the European Patent Office (EPO). Clean energy patents have grown 3.3% per year between 2017-2019, but this is only a quarter of the annual growth rate of a decade ago, underscoring the urgent need for investment in clean energy to meet climate goals, the study finds. Shepard Fox supports the International Energy Agency and European Patent Office in communicating the findings of the study to media and political stakeholders via an international media outreach campaign. The tasks of Shepard Fox include the development of key messages and localized press release in the respective local languages, the distribution of the key findings to relevant media and EU stakeholders as well as the arrangement of interviews with EPO and IEA experts, and media monitoring.
International Energy Agency Press Release
Global trends in clean energy innovation
Video: Global trends in clean energy innovation
Munich, March 16, 2021: How did the pandemic affect innovation? Shepard Fox supports European Patent Office in communicating latest innovation trends via global media campaign across Europe, the US, China, Japan and South Korea
Statistics published today by the European Patent Office (EPO) show that innovation in healthcare drove patenting activity in 2020: Medical technology was the leading field for inventions in terms of volume, while pharmaceuticals and biotechnology were the fastest-growing areas. Despite the pandemic, the overall number of European patent applications filed in 2020 was nearly on a par with the previous year’s. As in 2019, the strongest increases among the top ten countries came from China and South Korea. – Shepard Fox supports the European Patent Office in communicating these trends in innovation via a global communications campaign comprising the development of localized country-specific content as well as local media outreach campaigns in the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. The campaign includes the creation and distribution of press releases in the respective local languages, arranging interviews with the Chief Economist and other EPO experts and tier-1 media, spanning TV, radio, business, general as well as trade media outlets, and media monitoring and analysis.
Video on innovation trends during the pandemic
Patent Index: Who is filing for patents and in which fields?
Zurich, March 12, 2021: Shepard Fox supports executive search firm Russell Reynolds in building thought leadership on diversity in corporate management and supervisory boards
The Swiss government’s gender guidelines taking effect at the beginning of the year, which mandate that large companies have a minimum of 30 percent women at the supervisory board level, and 20 percent at the executive board level, have so far not resulted in improving gender diversity, a new study by Russell Reynolds Associates finds. In the 20 companies comprising the Swiss Market Index (SMI), women currently hold 13 percent of executive roles, up just one percentage point from the year before, making Swiss companies laggards when compared to other countries: France, the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden have on average all exceeded 20 percent women on executive boards. – Shepard Fox supports Russell Reynolds, the international leadership consultancy and executive search firm, in raising its profile for its HR and recruitment expertise via media relations promoting the results of their latest studies, arranging media interviews, providing media with expert views on latest leadership trends, and by creating thought leadership articles as well as social media content.
Thought Leadership Article “Diversifying the Swiss Executive Ranks”
LinkedIn Post on latest Diversity Study
Alicante/Munich, February 8, 2021: Shepard Fox to promote joint study by European Union Intellectual Property Office and European Patent Office on benefits of owning intellectual property rights
A new study released by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) shows that companies which own at least one patent, registered design or trade mark generate on average 20% higher revenues per employee than companies which do not own any of those intellectual property rights (IPRs). Moreover, these IPR-owning companies were found to be paying 19% higher wages on average than other companies. – Shepard Fox has been commissioned to communicate the key findings of the study to media in the Netherlands, including the creation of a Dutch press release summarizing the results, distribution to relevant media, arranging interviews with the authors of the study, and media monitoring.
EPO/EUIPO Press Release on Joint IPR Study
London, January 11, 2021: Shepard Fox to support AXA XL in raising its profile in India and Brazil
Shepard Fox has been commissioned by AXA XL, a division of global insurance company AXA, to continue to help raise its profile in India and Brazil via media relations and content editing services, and position the company as a thought leader in managing corporate risks. AXA XL is specializing in property and casualty insurances for mid-size and international companies, as well as in covering specialty risks such as satellite, marine, and fine art insurance. Shepard Fox provides local PR support in India and Brazil via its local offices in New Delhi and Sao Paulo, respectively, while reporting to global HQ of AXA XL in London. The services comprise the localization of media content such as press releases and feature articles, building and maintaining media relationships, screening local markets for media opportunities, as well as media monitoring.
Munich, December 10, 2020: Study reveals largest innovation clusters for fourth industrial revolution technologies all located in Asia or US – Shepard Fox promotes study via media relations in China, Japan, South Korea, the US
A study published by the European Patent Office (EPO) shows that innovation in fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies has accelerated significantly worldwide. Global patent filings for these technologies, which concern smart connected objects and span the Internet of Things, big data, 5G, and artificial intelligence (AI), grew at an average annual rate of almost 20% – nearly five times faster than the average of all technology fields.
The study also shows that innovation is concentrated in certain regional clusters of innovation around the world, The top 20 4IR clusters are jointly responsible for well over half of all innovations. The regional ranking is topped by 13 Asian and US clusters, followed by seven clusters located in Europe and the Middle East.
Shepard Fox supported the EPO in generating media content on the basis of the study, producing local press releases in the respective language for China, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., as well as for European countries including Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands. Furthermore Shepard Fox supported the EPO by local distribution of the press releases, reaching out to key media in each of the countries as well as by arranging media interviews with the authors of the study, and monitoring media for media coverage.
Munich, October 19, 2020: Key posts on German top supervisory boards are still reserved for men, study shows – Shepard Fox supports leadership advisory Russell Reynolds in promoting study via media relations
Two years after having reached the statutory women’s quota of 30% in Germany’s top 30 supervisory boards, numbers of women are stagnating at 32.9 percent. This has Germany ranked seventh in Europe. Still, supervisory board power structures have changed little, if at all. There is the only one woman among the top 30 supervisory board chairs. Only 12 percent of committee chairs are women.
This is the result of a survey done by global leadership advisory and search firm Russell Reynolds Associates. For the past ten years the company, which specialises in recruiting candidates for top-executive positions and boards, has been analysing the composition of DAX-30 supervisory boards by conducting an annual survey.
Shepard Fox supports Russell Reynolds in promoting the results of the study by creating media releases and social media content summarizing the main results of the study as well as by distributing the press releases to key media, arranging media interviews with the authors of the study and by monitoring media for coverage.
Zurich, September 27, 2020: Shepard Fox Communications mourns death of Wolfgang Clement, Chairman of the Advisory Board
Shepard Fox deeply mourns the death of our Advisory Board Chairman, Wolfgang Clement.
Wolfgang encouraged and supported the foundation of Shepard Fox Communications in 2007. Without him, the company would not be here today. He accepted to become Advisory Board Chairman right from the start.
Two years after leaving his German Federal government role as Minister of Economics and Labor in 2005, he co-founded and led a labour market research institute in London. In cooperation with universities and think tanks around the world, the institute launched studies and surveys on how demographics changed labour markets and how employment and labour would evolve in the 21st century.
Shepard Fox supported the institute with global media relations, editing and localising the content of the studies and surveys into Asian and European languages, and organising press conferences and panel discussions across Europe and Asia to present the findings of the research studies.
With the passing of Wolfgang, we have lost our closest adviser and greatest mentor, as well as an unmatched role model for integrity and reliability, for inspiring motivation, courage and confidence in people, for being faithful to one’s convictions, unwavering in arguing for one’s beliefs, for clarity of thought and language, for always following one’s words with deeds, and for being the hardest worker we have ever known. We also lose our great friend, who we could always count on and who would never let us down, no matter what. We miss him already.
We send our sincere condolences to his family – with whom he was very close – and to his wide network of friends and colleagues in Germany and across the world.
