Apologies for the obscure title, it’s meaning will be explained below!

I attended the one day seminar by John Cronin “IBM’s top inventor” which reinforced a long held belief of mine, that business people in the US are very different from the UK. They see the world in a very different way, they appear to have different goals, play by different rules and use a whole different language. In many respects we are much more European than perhaps we may like to admit. This is not a question of who is right and who is wrong. There are many ways to do business. My concern is, can you win at a game when you struggle to comprehend the rules?

In the UK my experience is that most companies do consider their IP. Most technology companies have a patent or three, we have brand protection and we copyright most of our publications. We think we are doing a reasonable job at protecting the assets of our businesses and our freedom to trade in our products. According to John Cronin this one-dimensional approach to IP needs to be challenged. IP management means much more in than a defensive protection of our business.

John now runs the IP Capital Group, which is a consultancy firm that can transform your company’s IP landscape in a way that would impress capability Brown.

If the first dimension of IP is to protect what you have, the first recommendation from John is that you really find out what you have. This involves a thorough examination of all IP that your company owns. (i.e. not just your patents). Look for process knowledge, software, brands, small technology advances etc. Then decide which of these you should also patent, which you should publish (to affix prior art) and which you should state are “Trade Secrets” and get your staff to sign NDA’s against. If you follow the IP Capital Group system you will have a much tighter control on your IP and more importantly a map of your IP landscape.

The second dimension of IP management is pro-active IP generation. This is a change of mindset from simply defending your current position to actively managing your future position. To better explain this, consider a new technology company with one or two patents protecting a good idea. This company has an aspiration to be bought out in five to ten years. (This is fairly typical of the goals for most angel investors). The question is how do you increase the value of this potential future buyout using IP management. The answer is to increase the “landscape” of IP that surrounds the company. This can be achieved by increasing the number of patents. For example patents covering the application of your ideas into new markets. You may wish to publish some articles. These can be in obscure places and even by anonymous authors. The idea being that you block other companies from patenting close to your invention by making some of the landscape common knowledge. You might want to buy patents from other companies. Another process you could instigate is to act as the devil’s advocate. If you really wanted to design around your patent – how would you achieve this? Once you are aware of a potential design around, patent it. This second dimension to IP management can (apparently) increase company values by factors of ten or more!

The third dimension of IP management is Offensive IP management. This takes this same process one stage further. This is where you look at your competitor and use your IP skills to weaken their business position. The idea of the using the patent laws offensively rather than defensively could only come from the US. You may decide not to practice this yourself, however you at least should be aware that others may be doing this to you!

At this point the IP management story begins to sound like an insurance sales pitches. First they get you worried, then they sell you protection. Here they tell you that the IP world is out to get you, so you better get a consultant in!

It was stressed that this process is equally valid for the SME and the large multinational. You should spend what time and money you can afford on managing this aspect of your business.

I would also stress that I have avoided (deliberately) using any of the language that IP capital group have developed. In fact the title “3-dimensional IP” or “3DIP” or any variant is my idea and I hereby claim copyright to this idea. – I suppose I better check that no-one else has used it!

The headline for the EKTN event referred to “Open Innovation”.

This concept of business product development is put forward as a potential growth multiplier for technology companies. By combining the market knowledge and design skills of more than one company in an Open Innovation environment you can leverage significant business growth. This high growth fertilizer does come with risks attached. Get it wrong and you will be in the manure!

The concept of Open Innovation makes a lot of sense and undeniably would provide a significant increase in sale potential. Imagine a small sensor company trying to sell its new widget to the health service on its own. Then compare that to the same company in partnership with the NHS and a large OEM. Together they have direct access to end users. The financial clout and market position to get to market quickly, and the IP to make it work. The challenge is – how do you build the trust and protection to make it happen!

The answer of course is IP management. At some point you will sign an Open Innovation agreement.

So first examine your current IP landscape and where it needs to be improved. Follow all of the process outlined above in 3DIP and get prepared. John Cronin then gave some very good advice.

Consider the position of each company prior to the agreement, how they will work during the agreement, and how they will want to work post agreement. This fourth dimension of time allows you to tease out all of the IP conditions that you will want in your Open Innovation agreement.

You may even want to develop some offensive IP to protect your rights ahead of time!