Regular readers of the IP Asset Maximizer blog will note that my postings have been a bit sparse lately. I have been taking some time off with my family, and will be continuing to do so until later in June 2009. I appreciate your patience. I have some timely news items to share in the interim, however.
IAM 250 Awards
I am proud to announce that I have been named one of the IAM 250 for 2009. This award is given by IAM Magazine to those non-corporate IP Strategists judged by their peers as the leaders in IP Strategy. With Duncan Bucknell, Suzanne Harrison, Kevin Rivette, Andrew Watson and many others whom I respect greatly on the list, it is a great honor to appear on this inaugural list of the world’s leaders in IP Strategy.
IP Metrics Survey
Kate Shore of IPCapital Group let me know that her company has developed a benchmarking survey to assess how companies are using metrics and key performance indicators in relation to their IP portfolios and processes. Details are found in the IPCapital Group blog. The survey closes on June 17.
New Blog for Innovators
Over the past several months, the folks at Slingshot Product Development Group have referred to me a number of
entrepreneurs who are seeking to introduce their new product ideas into the market. Slingshot works with corporations and entrepreneurs in all facets of product development, that is, from early stage ideation to manufacturing services. My services in this regard have effectively been in the realm of “IP Business Coaching.” Some of these entrepreneurs held viable ideas, but others I had to tell that their product idea could not be protected so as to make it likely that they would have success in the market. To a client, however, each of these persons obtained valuable insight into the overall market potential of their ideas as a result of my working with them to deconstruct their product idea into an analysis of the innovation they were seeking to address, as opposed to merely looking at their idea for its inventive aspects.
In the time that I have gotten to know the Slingshot folks, I have been impressed with their “out of the box” thinking about innovation, particularly how IP should fit into the process at the earliest stages. Put simply, Slingshot “gets” that patents don’t matter unless the product will sell, which is a depth of understanding about the patent process that other innovation professionals do not yet broadly process. Moreover, Slingshot understands that IP information can significantly enhance the product ideation process to result in greater overall ROI on innovation investment.
Given my positive experience with Slingshot, I gladly accepted their offer to cross-post relevant content to their new innovation blog, which will go live shortly. Readers of the IP Asset Maximizer blog will recognize the content at the Slingshot blog because it will also appear here. I am nonetheless pleased to have a new forum to spread the word about IP Strategy to those who do not normally interact with the world of IP. Those of us who are leading the way in spreading the word on IP Strategy understand that a significant impediment to broader implementation of asset-directed IP processes (as opposed to the traditional rights-based IP processes) is communication to those who need to know, that is, business professionals. I am looking forward to this new opportunity for dialogue with those who have the most to gain from implementation of robust IP Strategies within their respective organizations.
Congrats to the IAM Magazine nomination! There are always a lot of big names on that list and you should be proud to be on the list!