All episodes

Stephen Key emphasised that understanding business objectives should precede patenting, urging inventors to align their patent claims with their commercial goals. Key stressed the importance of testing market demand for an invention's benefit before heavily investing in IP protection. He also highlighted the collaborative role of inventors and IP experts, where inventors should actively contribute their business acumen to the patenting process, ensuring the protection truly serves their needs. Key enthusiastically endorsed provisional patent applications as an accessible starting point for securing intellectual property rights while further developing an invention.

Novak, with a background in economics, finance, and software, recounts his entry into IP tech through developing an AI-powered patent retrieval system. The discussion further investigates the challenges startups face in engaging with the IP system and how digital tools, like Novak's, can lower these barriers by offering user-friendly initial engagement and fostering trust, ultimately aiming to improve the client journey for patent law firms.

Koukounis emphasises the often-overlooked value of incremental improvements and advocates for closer collaboration between engineers and IP departments to identify and protect these innovations through patents. The discussion uses the example of modified excavator teeth to illustrate how strategic IP design can secure market advantages. Ultimately, the piece argues for a shift in perspective where IP is viewed as a strategic business asset rather than just a cost, requiring better understanding at the executive level and encouragement of inventive thinking among engineers.

Drawing upon Robert G. Cooper's work, this episode presents the stage-gate system as a structured method to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of new product development. The stage-gate approach divides the innovation process into distinct stages separated by decision points called gates, involving multidisciplinary teams and senior management. Key benefits highlighted include enhanced quality, stronger market focus, better preliminary work, and more robust project evaluations. Ultimately, the piece argues that adopting a stage-gate system offers a competitive advantage by providing a clear roadmap and improving the success rate of new products.

This episode outlines key areas of concern, including copyright and software protection, industrial property and patent protection, data protection and ownership, and cybersecurity threats. The discussion emphasises the complexities of balancing open-source initiatives with proprietary IP and highlights LESI's role in addressing these issues. Future directions for IP in smart cities, such as the growing importance of data and AI-related IP, are also considered.

Utterback and Suárez's analysis highlights a recurring pattern across industries: an initial period of diverse experimentation, the emergence of a dominant design shaped by various factors, a peak in the number of firms, a subsequent shakeout, and eventual market stabilisation with a few key players. This episode emphasises that understanding this pattern is crucial for firms deciding on market entry timing and for policymakers aiming to foster innovation. It also touches upon factors beyond technology that influence dominant design and differences observed between US and Japanese industry evolution.

This episode highlights how strategic analysis of patents can empower steelmakers to drive innovation, avoid duplicating research, anticipate market shifts, and gain competitive intelligence. The article further explores how digitalisation and customisation are transforming the sector, and how leveraging patent insights is essential for developing new, cost-effective, and tailored steel products while navigating the challenges of fluctuating costs and intense competition.

This episode highlights the transformation of IP management due to factors like multi-invention complexity and internet-based business models. It discusses new dimensions of IP strategy, such as integrated management and open innovation, alongside the Profiting From Innovation (PFI) framework. Furthermore, it examines the interplay between business models and appropriability strategies, using the Pilkington case as an example. Finally, the episode outlines challenges in modern IP management and proposes strategies for effective IP management to help businesses leverage their innovations.

This episode explains how traditional technology roadmapping, while useful, often falls short in predicting radical innovation. The episode details the key components of SAILS, which include identifying complex patterns of change, developing heuristics, understanding past disruptions, and fostering proactive strategic responses. Furthermore, it discusses how applying SAILS to IP roadmapping can enhance a company's ability to anticipate technological shifts and secure a competitive advantage, illustrated with examples like Apple and Tesla. The episode concludes by acknowledging the benefits and challenges of using the SAILS methodology.

This episode highlights a study of European Inventor Award winners, finding that while patent protection is initially crucial, sharing IP becomes more common as innovations mature. Licensing is a key mechanism for wider adoption, and universities play a vital role in commercialising research. Established firms, however, tend to keep their IP closed. The piece advocates for a balanced approach to IP, tailored strategies, and platforms that connect innovators to accelerate sustainability. Ultimately, the study suggests that strategically managing IP can significantly contribute to addressing environmental challenges.