SOPHEON PLC

("Sopheon" or the "Company")

Sopheon Bridges Gaps Between Digital and Physical Product Development with Launch of Accolade for Smart Products

Sopheon, the international provider of software, expertise and best practices for enterprise innovation management, today announced Accolade® for Smart Products, the first 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.

"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."

Developing, manufacturing and managing intelligent devices involves coordinating a large number of departments and disciplines. Adhering to a top-line strategy while preserving the best practices of all participants, helps companies to get products and services into the market faster, enforce consistent governance procedures, and streamline costs.

"Delivering successful smart products is an imperative for our market and for us," said Dr. Alper Soysal, Global Process Owner of Product Management at Arҫelik owner of many notable brands including 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."

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Sopheon and Accolade are trademarks of Sopheon plc.

About Sopheon. Sopheon (LSE: SPE) partners with customers to provide complete enterprise innovation management solutions including software, expertise, and best practices, that enable them 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 200 customers with over 60,000 users in over 50 countries. Sopheon is listed on AIM, operated by the London Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com.