Millipore Implements Accolade

Sopheon PLC
23 July 2003


Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs GMT 23rd July 2003


                                  Sopheon Plc
                                  ('Sopheon')

          Millipore Implements Sopheon's Accolade System To Strengthen
        Portfolio Management and Streamline Product Development Process

      Solution Selected After Competitive Trial Based on Decision-Support
     Capabilities, Lower Implementation and Operating Costs and Ease-of-Use


MINNEAPOLIS and LONDON-July 23, 2003-Sopheon, the international software and
services company, announced today that Millipore Corporation, a leading
bioscience company, has selected Sopheon's Accolade system to strengthen
decision support for the company's management of its technology and product
portfolios and improve the consistency and efficiency of its product development
process. Millipore is deploying the Accolade system initially to users in
product development, research and development and marketing within its
Biopharmaceutical division. Plans call for subsequent expansion of access to
users across the company's Life Sciences and Laboratory Water divisions.

Headquartered in Billerica, Mass., Millipore provides technologies, tools and
services to life-science research, biotech and pharmaceutical companies involved
in the development and production of therapeutic drugs. With more than 5,500
products on the market today, Millipore employs 4,400 people in seven
manufacturing plants and more than 31 offices throughout the world.

When Millipore set out to reengineer its seven-year-old stage-gate product
development process, one of the overarching goals was to improve the company's
ability to respond even more quickly to needs and opportunities in core markets.
Consistent with this goal, it sought to decrease the time required to make
portfolio and product development decisions to near real time. This prompted a
search for technology that could provide executives and cross-functional
development teams with better, faster access to reliable data on projects in the
pipeline.

Sopheon's Accolade was chosen following a series of competitive software trials.
'With its automation and decision-support capabilities, the Accolade system not
only suited our higher level objectives, it proved in comparison tests to be the
best solution,' said Steve Pearl, vice president of biopharmaceutical research
and development at Millipore. 'Accolade had more off-the-shelf capability and
was easier to customize. We also liked the fact it could be deployed quickly
and, once in place, had limited maintenance requirements. What really won us
over, however, was the positive reaction of our team to Accolade's broad mix of
features and to its ease-of-use. In addition, Sopheon has been an excellent
consultative partner, working closely with us after the sale to help ensure that
we met our process and implementation goals.'

Sopheon's Accolade is the industry's first product development system that
integrates human-based decision-support services and process-enabling technology
for the comprehensive management of product and technology portfolios. Besides
automating the product development process, Accolade offers such features as an
idea management and screening module that captures, tracks and enables objective
evaluation of product ideas; portfolio management tools that allow the early
identification of product winners and losers; and a knowledge network that
facilitates the sharing of information and expertise across value chains to
improve the speed and effectiveness of decision making.

'Millipore has a global reputation for leading the way in the application of
membrane separation and purification technology to the development and
production of new therapies and drugs,' said Andy Michuda, chief executive
officer at Sopheon. 'The Millipore team brought that same clarity of vision and
commitment to excellence to determining how product lifecycle management could
help it elevate the business impact of its product development efforts.
Effective product development and portfolio management are about making the
right strategic choices. Sopheon's technology and services are helping Millipore
build a decision-support environment that will ensure that the right resources
are focused on the right projects, and that those products are developed right.
That's the winning combination for product development success.'

About Millipore

Millipore (NYSE: MIL) is a multinational bioscience company that provides
technologies, tools and services for the discovery, development and production
of new therapeutic drugs. It serves the life-science research, biotechnology and
pharmaceutical industries. For more information, please visit www.millipore.com.

About Sopheon

Sopheon (LSE: SPE) is an international provider of software tools, content and
human-based decision support that enable organizations to achieve higher, faster
returns on innovation and product development investments. The company's
products and services include the Sopheon Accolade(R) product development system
and Knowledge Network (formerly Organik(R)). Sopheon is listed on the Alternative
Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the
Netherlands. For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com.


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