Industry's First Innovation Solution Creates Comprehensive Process That Streamlines Costs, Enforces Governance Procedures and Accelerates Time-to-Market

MINNEAPOLIS -April 14, 2021- Sopheon today announced Accolade® for Smart Products, the first and only innovation management solution to bring together traditionally siloed software and physical product development. By coordinating the many different priorities, methodologies, work habits and technologies involved in creating smart products, this new SaaS-based solution enables companies to develop innovative, high-quality and regulatory-compliant digitally enabled products.

Businesses are rushing to build smart, connected products. The recent IDC Quarterly Smart Home Device Tracker (March 2021) forecast worldwide shipments of smart home devices alone will surpass 1.4 billion units in 2025 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2%. Beyond home devices, digital applications are becoming common in most industries, from automotive to retail to manufacturing. But conquering the complex process of developing smart, connected products is a significant challenge for most companies.

Developing, manufacturing and managing intelligent devices involves coordinating a large number of departments and disciplines. Accolade for Smart Products is the first innovation management solution to untangle the network of complexity and ensure that all efforts are aligned and coordinated. Adhering to a top-line strategy while preserving the best practices of all participants helps companies get products and services into the market faster, enforce consistent governance procedures and streamline costs.

"Companies are racing to write software and release products quickly to digitally transform, break into new markets, and beat competitors to deliver the next great customer experience," said Paul Heller, chief technology officer of Sopheon. "But as the digital and physical worlds collide, many companies struggle to find the best ways to manage innovation across different disciplines. Accolade for Smart Products enables companies - from traditional manufacturers to new technology stars - to accelerate product delivery, while also implementing the best practices needed for product reliability without dragging down innovation."

Accolade is Sopheon's award-winning innovation management platform that connects people, systems and information across departments and functions. This cross-functional collaboration and synchronization results in trusted, timely data for faster, better and more dynamic decision making. Accolade has proven its value to thousands of global users, such as Honeywell, Merck KGaA, P&G, Philips, BASF, Parker Hannifin and other innovation and market leaders across a wide variety of industries.

"Delivering successful smart products is an imperative for our market and for us," said Dr. Alper Soysal, global process owner of product management at Arçelik A.Ş one of the world's leading global manufacturers of domestic appliances including notable brands like Beko and Grundig. "It is critical that we have a single innovation management solution that provides governance, coordination and transparency of our entire new product development effort, spanning the digital and physical features of our products, as well as their initiation on the production line. Accolade is our single product innovation decision support and planning solution that still allows individual teams to use the development tools of their choice."

"With Accolade, transparency allows for better visibility from the early phases of the development pipeline to alignment with corporate strategy, not only for our executives but also for the product managers and developers within their areas of responsibility," stated Dr. Peter Selders, CEO of Endress+Hauser SE. "On top of that, we have increased the efficiency in our annual review process with one single source of data."
Sopheon will be hosting a series of Accolade for Smart Products Discovery Workshops in the weeks ahead. Those interested in requesting a workshop are invited to sign up here. And to learn more about how Sopheon is transforming enterprise innovation, visit our website at www.sopheon.com.

ABOUT SOPHEON
Sopheon (LSE: SPE) partners with customers to provide complete Enterprise Innovation Management solutions, including patented software, expertise and best practices to achieve exceptional long-term revenue growth and profitability. Sopheon's Accolade solution provides unique, fully-integrated coverage for the entire innovation management and new product development lifecycle, including strategic innovation planning, roadmapping, idea and concept development, process and project management, portfolio management and resource planning. Sopheon's solutions have been implemented by over 250 customers with more than 60,000 users in over 50 countries. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange.
Sopheon and Accolade are trademarks of Sopheon plc.

Media Contact
Cheral Druck
Sopheon
Tel: +1 952 851 7500
Email: cheral.druck@sopheon.com