Pinsent Masons is working with CoVentured, a platform designed to promote collaboration by connecting corporates with start-ups around the globe, Legal IT Insider has learned. The firm is currently seeking applications from start-ups to help solve what it describes as “an international search engine challenge.”
Pinsent Masons has decided to use the CoVentured platform in order to gain access to tech start-ups from around the globe to help solve specific challenges, David Halliwell, director of knowledge and innovation delivery at Pinsent Masons told us as part of our series of profiles of the top 100 firms. The appeal is interaction with start-ups focused on whole range of industry sectors – not just the law.
“We don’t invest directly in start-ups like Allen & Overy or Mischon de Reya,” Halliwell said. “But we do have a combination of different things we are doing in a similar space.”
The firm has a track record of building its own internal capabilities, for example, including workflow platform Matter Management, developed over the last couple of years.
Pinsent Masons has also collaborated with technology companies to create joint venture propositions, including cloud-based compliance platform Cerico which it built alongside Campbell Nash, a consultancy owned by technologist James Armstrong. Cerico was sold on to Dow Jones last year.
Pinsent Masons sees CoVentured as a third pillar to its innovation strategy and the search engine challenge – little detail is yet known about the specific nature of the challenge – is among the first it has trialled on the platform. The deadline for tech companies to apply to help create an intelligent search tool of multiple data sources is Feb 22, this year.
Other corporates using CoVentured include Fujitsu, Pfizer, Bupa, Accenture and logistics giant Linfox.
By Amy Carroll
To read the profile of Pinsent Masons in full, see our January Orange Rag newsletter: https://legaltechnology.com//latest-newsletter/
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