Development of an innovation strategy builds an intellectual property “fence” for your company.
This “IP” fence draws a boundary around your company’s intellectual property.
What is intellectual property? It includes your patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and publications. The fence formation of the fence may take many forms.
Offensive intellectual property positions: attracts investors and partners, maintains a competitive advantage by protecting core business technology, and creates exit options.
Defensive intellectual property positions: provides a defense from competition, blocks alternative technologies, and builds value through incremental improvements to core technology.
Documented trade secrets: business information which is most valuable if not generally known.
Defensive, or strategic, publications: proactively publishing a technical disclosure when the costs of obtaining a patent outweigh the benefits of its exclusive rights.
A well-crafted innovation strategy protects major and future programs; as well as platform, or disruptive, technologies.
It establishes your company as a major competitive force.
An innovation strategy includes developing best practices for managing the innovation lifecycle and for memorializing the innovation.
One strategy is to keep your innovation a secret for awhile.
Your strategy may include only publicizing your innovation after you have completed all evaluations, experiments, development work, and finalized design concepts. Only allow your competitors knowledge of your advances and company direction when and how it suits your company most. You then remain one step ahead at all times.
Carefully manage your innovation. Pursue protection in a timely and strategic manner.
Sometimes, internal and external forces disrupt innovation management. These forces may include: budget issues, lack of employee’s time, lack of development time and resources, changing business priorities, competitive strategies, and management changes.
To counteract these forces, savvy companies implement education programs. IP education covers creation, strategy, protection and associated company processes.
By carefully managing and memorializing innovation, your company can:
- Protect its innovations without unintentionally losing or jeopardizing rights.
- Quantify the impact of the resulting intellectual property by establishing key performance indicators
- Engage and incentivize company innovators.
- Advance critical projects by providing actively managed and strategic intellectual property initiatives.
These efforts validate the continued investment by the company in intellectual property. They also encourage the innovation process to repeat and advance.
Do you and/or your business need help with managing your innovation? We’re here for you. Contact us here.
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