Managing the Flow of Innovation
The worldwide appreciation for the importance of intellectual property has undergone rapid growth during the past ten years. Forms of intellectual property, such as patents, that were once considered merely outputs of research engineers are now valued as weapons of business leaders. The world has witnessed IP successes like IBM’s billion dollar annual patent licensing stream and NTP’s massive settlement with Research in Motion (the Blackberry dispute). These successes, coupled with the outrageous costs associated with IP litigation, have forced companies to move “IP” from a strategic discussion to an implementable business function.
Simply put, to survive in this evolving intellectual business community, companies must become savvy in all matters of IP. Greater emphasis is being placed on effectively managing the flow of innovation throughout an entire organization. Since invention records are often scattered in various locations (laptops, PCs, paper, etc), they are not easily accessible. Moreover, the records are extremely vulnerable to vanish through a disgruntled employee, theft, or even a simple computer crash. Trade secrets are walking out the front door of corporations every day. As the amount of information increases, so too does the urgency for more efficient processes. Companies can have an abundance of data, but without effective management tools, they are unable to convert that data into useful information - reports.
To solve these growing issues, companies need to adopt a strong innovation management system (IMS). There are several key components to a successful IMS. The first is to have a means for automatically capturing innovation records. If users are required to store daily innovation records differently than their normal routine, they probably will not do it for long. If innovators do not populate the system with innovation records, the system will fail. With automated innovation capture, the entire workforce can continue to do what they normally do in the way they normally do it, yet still populate the IMS with innovation records.
As documents are automatically collected and archived into a central database, they must be legally safeguarded. This authenticates the date, time, and content of each document for future use at trial or other adversarial proceedings. Since it is impossible to know which documents may potentially be needed as evidence in IP litigation, all records should be safeguarded.
Furthermore, having a secure, web-based innovation system allows remote access for those who need it – anytime. Imagine the possibilities of searching and collaborating on all innovative documents, extracting detailed reports, and even defensively publishing documents with the click of a button.
Building a robust IP portfolio requires insight and collaboration. Often times committees and personnel from remote locations are involved in the decision making process. If not structured properly, this could considerably lengthen the innovation cycle – costing valuable time and money. In an industry where dates are everything, any slight delay in the development process can have devastating affects. An effective IMS creates a thriving innovative environment which will help a company to protect their freedom to practice.
