Role of patent data in innovation lifecycle: ideation stage

Introduction
Developing ideas
Implementing ideas

Introduction

Patent-related data is a recognised source of information about technological innovation programmes and the patenting strategies of parties in a particular field. Parties often use data reporting tools (eg, mapping or landscaping) to provide an overview of a competitive activity. These tools can provide personalised, wide-ranging information where parties:

• establish a well-defined analysis objective;
• implement a dedicated search strategy; and
• produce an actionable report that contains recommendations which address the objectives.

Patent data can be useful throughout a technology's innovation lifecycle. This article focuses on how parties can use patent data at the ideation stage.(1)

Developing ideas

Patent data can provide parties with a comprehensive overview of the existing technologies in their technological field of interest. The more detailed a party's enquiry, the more relevant the answers will be to its specific needs. Dedicated patent reports can highlight relevant technological clusters and technical concepts. As well as informing parties about patenting activity and the status of patents in each field of interest, dedicated patent reports enable parties to identify technical problems and, importantly, to differentiate between those which have been resolved and those which are still outstanding or have been resolved insufficiently.

To develop an idea using patent data, parties should:

• establish an analysis objective – for example, to:
  • come up with ideas for the development of a new technology in a particular technological field;
  • come up with ideas for the development of an existing technology; or
  • identify problem-solving opportunities in a particular technological field;
• identify and map technological clusters;
• select the most relevant technological clusters and technical concepts;
• identify any particularly representative patent families for further analysis; and
• produce a report which includes recommendations that specifically address the objectives set at the start of the exercise.

Implementing ideas

Patent data can facilitate the implementation of a party's idea by:

• confirming its innovative potential;
• identifying optimisation and research opportunities;
• assessing the party's degree of freedom to use the idea (ie, whether any third-party patent rights exist); and
• identifying parties which work on complementary technologies as potential partners.

To implement an idea using patent data, parties should:

• clearly define the idea;
• clearly define an objective – for example, to:
  • confirm the idea's innovative potential;
  • assess the degree of freedom to use the idea; or
  • identify potential development partners;
• review the relevant technological field globally to identify key parties and general trends;
• analyse the key parties in detail, particularly regarding their patented technologies and the extent of patent coverage that they hold;
• classify patent families into clusters according to their technical properties;
• create categories that are specific to the context of the idea and classify patent families accordingly; and
• produce a report which includes recommendations that specifically address the objectives set at the start of the exercise.

For further information on this topic please contact Jean-Jacques Canonici at GEVERS's Brussels office by telephone (+32 2 715 3711) or email (jean-jacques.canonici@gevers.eu). Alternatively, contact Eugénie Bard at GEVERS & ORES's Paris office by telephone (+33 01 45 00 48 48) or email (eugenie.bard@gevers.eu). The GEVERS and GEVERS & ORES website can be accessed at www.gevers.eu.

Endnotes

(1) This is the first article in a series on patent data. For the next article in the series, please see "Role of patent data in innovation lifecycle: development stage".