Using Big Data to Make Intellectual Property a Strategic Weapon
New technologies enabling predictive analysis of Big Data provide intellectual property (IP) professionals a platform for better decision-making and vastly improved efficiencies. As a result, companies across the world are looking to harness the power of information and analytics to make themselves more Agile, lean, and profitable. Ultimately, applying information to drive better insight is leading to more effective business strategies.
IP is not exempt from this trend. Chief IP officers who embrace the opportunities afforded by better analysis of vast amounts of disparate data will ensure that their IP portfolio is a significant contributor to the company’s bottom line.
Many of the tools and processes used by IP organizations have not evolved as quickly as the businesses they serve. While analytics tools help companies harness Big Data for core business strategies, this is less often the case with IP analysis and decision-making. At a time when the acquisition, protection, and monetization of IP lies at the core of business value, IP intelligence solutions can help companies identify market trends, opportunities, and challenges, and the assets they may already have or need to acquire.
Modern IP management systems help organizations better understand not only the cost of protecting innovation but also the broader value of an IP portfolio. Eventually, every IP department should be able to identify the cost of managing ideas protection. More advanced companies may be able to identify how much revenue an IP portfolio generates annually, demonstrating the return on investment of IP protection.
With these tools available to them, chief IP officers should be able to answer strategic questions such as “How do we compare to our competitors in terms of core technology?” and “Are we behind or ahead in our key areas of technology?” and “Where should we invest in the future to continue to grow?”
New and complex sources of data (litigation, prosecution, financial, product, etc.) are now available and the intelligence now exists to increase their quality, accuracy, and applicability.
Companies can purchase real-time data on nearly 100 million patents and applications across 100 different jurisdictions — but this is only useful if they have the processing power and analytics capabilities to glean relevant insights.
A new generation of technology has emerged that transforms the way companies interrogate large sets of data. Each technology is groundbreaking in itself, but the combination is what is truly transformational.
