As the expert committee argued, Gorenje has managed to
institutionalize innovation through a solid internal regulatory framework that
ensures that employee creativity is encouraged, protected and rewarded. With a
long-standing patenting tradition dating back to the 1970s, Gorenje has
developed a comprehensive system for managing intellectual property rights,
which promotes transparency in the submission of ideas and introduces strict
evaluation mechanisms.
Equally important, according to the committee, is Gorenje's remuneration
system, which also ensures fairness in collaborative projects, including those
involving external partners. Such an approach strengthens innovation beyond the
boundaries of individual organizations and reflects the company's openness to
knowledge exchange. "Through continuous cooperation with Slovenian and
international universities, Gorenje has established itself as a bridge between
academic research and industrial practice, contributing to both the national
and European innovation ecosystem. Its role as the central holder of industrial
property within the Hisense Europe group further strengthens the company's
strategic importance as a hub of technological progress," the World
Intellectual Property Organization wrote in its statement.
With the WIPO National Award for Enterprises, the World
Intellectual Property Organization encourages the strengthening of cooperation
with public research organizations, while at the same time drawing attention to
examples of good practices in the regular and methodological use of the
intellectual property rights system in business activities.
"Gorenje has a long-standing tradition of innovation
and patenting, which is also based on close cooperation with external educational
institutions. In the last five years, we have successfully filed more than a
hundred first-patent applications, which confirms our commitment to the
development of advanced technologies and the protection of intellectual
property,” said the Director of the Joint Development at Gorenje, Elvir
Čaušević. “Our innovations come from combining the knowledge, experience and
creativity of our employees and strategic cooperation with the academic
environment. In this way, we strengthen our competitiveness on the global
market and create sustainable solutions for the future.”
Gorenje's first patent recognized in 1956
Gorenje's first patent dates back almost 70 years, when the
company was still a manufacturer of agricultural machinery at the beginning of
its journey. In 1956, the first patent was filed, for a threshing machine, and
today Gorenje confirms and protects its innovativeness with more than 200 valid
patents and patent applications. Gorenje also still has the most patents
registered in the register of the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic
of Slovenia, out of all companies. Since we have been part of the Hisense
Group, Gorenje has had the opportunity to use the knowledge protected by
several thousand Hisense patents.
A complex path to a new product
In Gorenje, the procedures for developing new appliances,
introducing changes and manufacturing appliances are very precisely defined and
documented through regulations. For each new project, we conduct thorough
research and determine the starting points for product and production
technology, product design, marketing and sales strategy, taking into account consumer
wishes, monitoring global trends and consumer wishes, which are analyzed
through consumer research and targeted workshops with consumers, taking into
account trends in the field of industrial design, product and production
technologies, determining target markets and market segments where we want to
sell, checking pre-development studies of development, design and technology,
and conducting an analysis of the competition and their products across all
professional fields.
Universities are strong development partners of Gorenje
Collaboration with faculties enables us to develop faster
and eliminate potential problems already during the design of new products. To
facilitate development cooperation, we signed an umbrella agreement on research
and development cooperation with the University of Ljubljana a few years ago.
We have signed long-term contracts with strategically important research groups
whose knowledge and services we often need, and we cooperate with other groups
in the implementation of individual activities lasting up to one year. We
connect with faculties based on information about the quality of the research
group and the equipment and programs they have. When deciding to cooperate,
responsiveness, respect for agreed deadlines and experience are very important.
We also occasionally cooperate with students in the topics of doctoral,
master's and diploma theses.