POC is Back to MIPS

POC, the Swedish cycling helmet brand that has made a name for themselves as an innovator in helmet and rider safety, has rekindled and “deepened” its partnership with MIPS. After having adopted MIPS technology early on in helmets like the Octal MIPS, POC went a different direction with their SPIN technology. After a subsequent lawsuit that was settled in 2018, the two brands agreed to partner to create safer helmets.

MIPS (Multi-directional Impact Protection System) has become a highly popular system to help protect users during rotational impacts. The system uses a slip-sheer concept, similar to the fluid between your brain and skull. It has been used in many different types of helmets, from cycling, to ski, to ice hockey.

POC was an early adopter of MIPS technology as part of the brand’s overall goal of protection. Beyond using materials and other technology to protect a cyclist during the impact, they also have their AVIP (Attention, Visibility, Interaction and Protection) concept to make cyclists more visible to other road users.

After a few years of using MIPS, POC released their SPIN (Shearing Pads INside) technology in August of 2017. Instead of what was by then the iconic yellow liner of the MIPS system, the SPIN pads used injected silicone allowing your head to rotate a small amount within the helmet in the event of a crash. POC stopped the use of MIPS with immediate effect and began rolling out their SPIN equipped helmets.

As you can imagine, this didn’t go over well with MIPS. It wasn’t just the loss of business, but they saw it as an infringement on their patents. By November, they had an injunction put in place in Germany to stop POC from selling any helmets with the SPIN technology. POC filed a counterclaim against MIPS.

By April of 2018 though, the two companies had settled the dispute and agreed to work together to advance helmet safety.

That takes us to today’s announcement from POC. It’s more of a formalization of the effort and announcing some plans. The first helmet to see the fruits of the collaboration will be the kid’s POCito Crane helmet which will be released late in the Summer of 2020. POC’s SPIN technology will be phased out into 2021, while helmets with a new MIPS liner specifically developed with POC will be introduced.

What will be interesting to see is how this affects other helmet brands. The MIPS liner is currently used in a wide range of helmets from many manufacturers in the industry. Hopefully the advancements made by the collaboration will benefit not only POC’s customers, but also other cyclists that use helmets from other brands.

The full press release is posted below.

---

POC, which has built an international reputation on safety, innovation and design, and MIPS, the Swedish safety technology company partnering with many helmet brands with its world-leading Brain Protection System, are announcing a deeper partnership. The new collaboration will see POC implement MIPS systems in many of its helmets starting with a new POCito Crane which will be released in late summer 2020. In addition, the new partnership will consider new, enhanced rotational protection systems, which will be developed specifically for a number of POC performance helmets to be released in 2021.

“Safety is at the very center of POC and our approach has always been to consider everything to improve safety, even if that means doing something that has never been done before,” said POC CEO, Jonas Sjögren. “This was the basis for our initial collaboration with MIPS in 2009, where we were the first ever to integrate a rotational impact protection system in snow sports and cycling helmets.”

MIPS is the leader in the field of rotational impact protection and the renewed partnership will give POC the opportunity to focus on new innovations under development around its Whole helmet concept, which is built on holistic helmet safety, creating helmets that are able to protect a user before, during and after an accident.

“MIPS is committed to protect any brain from injury through our helmet-based Brain Protection System and we have more than twenty years of research and testing to support our activities,” said Max Strandwitz, MIPS CEO. “We are very happy to collaborate with POC, not only as an acknowledged leader in safety and the manufacturer that brought MIPS to the market, but also as they have continued to push new thinking and innovations. Our combined efforts, maximizing each other’s strengths, will ultimately lead to enhancements in safety for all.”

POC CEO, Jonas Sjögren, continued, “Even if safety is better understood that does not mean we can standstill. We have to keep looking ahead to consider and evaluate what we have and what we need for the future. Our Whole helmet concept illustrates that in today’s world a helmet can, and should, do significantly more than just manage impacts. The best protection comes from not having an impact at all, and a helmet can protect you before, during and after an accident, whether it’s visibility, aramid barriers or NFC medical ID chips. With our renewed partnership with MIPS we know that rotational impact protection will be in good hands, our job will be to expand our curiosity, open mindedness and leave no stone unturned in search of new innovations and enhanced safety for the benefit of all.”

POC and MIPS, who are currently industry partners in a number of Swedish publicly funded projects around helmet safety, have a history of working together and the new partnership will see a host of POC’s helmets feature a MIPS rotational impact protection system.

In addition, POC and MIPS engineers will work together with the best of their ideas and innovations to develop new rotational impact solutions which will feature in a number of POC helmets to be released in 2021. These will follow on from the POCito Crane in 2020, with an objective to enhance comfort, ventilation and rotational impact protection. As part of the new partnership SPIN, POC’s silicone pad technology system, will be phased out and replaced by MIPS solutions in the majority of its helmets in the future.

Ensuring that rotational impact protection, one essential ingredient in a helmet, benefits from focused time and resource is an important consideration. By working with a leader in the field the collaboration also supports POC’s desire to focus on other safety innovations through its Whole helmet concept which focusses on developing enhanced safety as a system, where every material and innovation in a helmet works seamlessly together to protect before, during and after an accident.