IP at the heart of innovation

Ernest studied engineering in Leuven, specialising in nanotechnology with a focus on electronic design. From the very beginning of his career, variety played an important role. “I’ve always liked working on different topics,” he explains. “That’s one of the reasons I chose nanotechnology in the first place: you’re exposed to physics, chemistry, electronics and biology.” That same need for variation also influenced his choice for TMC, where the flexibility to move between projects and domains was a decisive factor.

From tech to strategy

He started his career as a consultant at IMEC IC-Link, working as an R&D project leader in ATE test development and qualification of new chips. The environment was highly technical and diverse, both in people and projects. “One day you could be working on a space project, the next on consumer electronics,” Ernest says.

He stayed there for the most part of his early career, 4,5 years, mainly because of the steep learning curve. “Almost everything was new to me. It kept me learning and growing all the time.” Over time, however, his interests began to shift. While his role remained strongly technical, Ernest felt increasingly drawn to the strategic side of technology.

Discovering IP

“I realised I wanted to move away from purely technical depth and start understanding the things that actually steer a company,” he explains. That interest aligned with a new direction TMC was exploring: IP strategy and IP consulting within start-up environments.

When the opportunity arose to join Vertical Compute as an IP Portfolio Engineer, Ernest made the switch. “It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made so far,” he says. The role introduced him to an entirely new domain, combining legal, strategic and technical aspects. While he could reuse part of his semiconductor background, IP itself was new territory. “I had no experience with IP. I really had to learn everything from scratch.”

What IP means in practice

For Ernest, IP goes far beyond patents alone. “It’s about all the assets a company wants to protect from competitors,” he explains. “That includes patents, but also copyright, trademarks and trade secrets.” Especially in a start-up context, the goal is to build a coherent IP portfolio that supports the company’s future position in the market.

His role places him squarely between different worlds. “We act as a bridge between R&D, management and the legal department,” Ernest says. R&D teams often don’t have the time to fully document their inventions in detail. That’s where he steps in: understanding the invention, documenting it thoroughly and translating it into a form that can be legally protected.

Learning from the ground up

The first months were intensive. Ernest spent much of his time studying the existing patent portfolio and learning how the proprietary technology works. One of the main challenges was distinguishing between different inventions within long and complex documents. “Some patents are fifty pages long,” he explains. “There can be overlap, and not everything described will ever be implemented. Being exposed to that level of technical detail, combined with the specific language used in patents, made it tricky to keep focus in the beginning.”

About six months into the role, things started to click. By then, he had helped file two major new patents and was involved in writing and managing funding proposals. “That was the first moment when a lot of the work translated into concrete outcomes,” he explains. “These processes take time, with discussions, revisions and fine-tuning, so seeing them materialise made the broader impact of my role much more tangible.”

From contributor to co-inventor

That value became especially clear when Ernest was listed as a co-inventor on one of Vertical Compute’s patents. The process starts with brainstorming sessions together with the R&D team around their initial invention. “We challenge the idea,” he explains. “What happens if you remove a component? Can it still work? Are there alternative ways to implement it?”

During this process, Ernest was able to connect the invention to concepts from his previous roles and experiences, eventually contributing an additional idea that became part of the patent. In that moment, his technical background, industry knowledge and growing IP expertise came together.

Working in a fast-moving start-up

Working in a start-up environment means no two days are the same. Priorities can change quickly, often driven by management or external opportunities. “You might plan to focus on a patent all week, and suddenly there’s an urgent request that requires you to switch focus,” Ernest says.

That can range from working on NDAs to preparing documentation for funding applications or analysing potential partnerships. “It can be challenging,” he adds, “but it also keeps the work interesting.” The constant switching is demanding, but it aligns well with his need for variation.

Support and knowledge sharing within TMC

TMC plays an important role in supporting this development. Through coaching, training and the Belgian IP Cell, Ernest can continuously learn and exchange experiences with colleagues working in similar roles. “You encounter situations where you’re unsure about the best approach. Being able to share experiences and best practices makes a real difference,” Ernest says.

Looking forward, Ernest wants to further expand his expertise beyond patents to the broader IP landscape, including trademarks and copyrights. At the same time, he hopes to stay closely connected to ongoing R&D developments within the company, so he can continue contributing from both a strategic and technical perspective.

For him, IP is ultimately about understanding innovation in its full context. Ernest: “Anyone working in R&D will encounter IP at some point. Innovation leads to intellectual property, and understanding how that process works opens up many different paths, whether in technology, strategy or management.”