Developing Intellectual Property

Today everyone is talking about Intellectual Property and it’s value, with much of this discussion has been brought about by the digital revolution and the shift from an advertising model to a content model. New tools and technology coupled with an explosion of content creators and connectors has reinforced everybody’s appetite for invention and entrepreneurial spirit. But there shouldn’t be about a “have a go” mentality it’s about a considered understanding of how value is realised and the requirements for managing the development, marketing and selling of Intellectual Property. In service companies Intellectual Property can be a great facilitator but it can also be the leader in value creation, it can and often will be discovered rather than planned.

Intellectual Property rights are often hard to realise for agencies because, despite the value inherent within technology, process or content, the commercial model is not to charge directly for this but to charge for services that utilise this Intellectual Property across many clients. Even where the Intellectual Property is not directly monetised, for example where it is based on a process its very important to recognise the impact it has on your pricing model. Determining what there is should be the first step and then maximising the potential as part of an ongoing continual development cycle, based on use.

We’ve identified 5 steps to consider Intellectual Property (IP) that’s not been realised within your business:

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• Ask a third party from outside your business to provide an evaluation, very early on its important to have a dispassionate and removed perspective of what you see as IP;
• Consider the basics of whether you can protect the IP rights in terms of registration and  against other similar rights;
• Determine how the IP sits with your existing offering / services – is it facilitating or leading – is it a new area of business or integral to what you currently do or both;
• Determine the commercial model – IP is valuable but only if you know how to generate profit from it;
• Create a 12 month plan focused what you need to do today to define the IP and what ‘investment’ is necessary to develop it – time, expenses, marketing, etc. It is critical that a plan based on the potential is agreed and referenced to ensure internal alignment and external clarity.

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