Intellectual Property Management
In these days of rapid technical advancement, becoming complacent towards the value stored within years of paper-based research & development records is tempting.
In many industries (outside of Hi-Tech) years of records, research & development, processes, methods and formulations remain paper-based.
- Is this information still relevant to the organisation?
- How would I be impacted if this knowledge was lost or destroyed?
- Would my competitor find this intellectual property valuable?
- Because it is paper it takes too long to find what I am looking for.
Is the primary objective loss protection, securing access or something else?
Most commonly the aims are threefold.
- Preserve – Create a disaster recovery plan for intellectual property assets, contained within decades of paper-based R&D records.
- Secure – Control and audit access to vital research notes. to protect from IP leakage.
- Scout – Surface the R&D data in fresh and meaningful ways, through search, filtering and reporting.
All three are essential, but which of the three is of most importance differs from organisation to organisation.
The result is an unlocking of the R&D investment. Leveraging historic research can be used to shorten product development and time to market, resulting in significant savings and creating a competitive advantage.
Perhaps it’s time to take a look at those dusty old papers and research notes, there is likely to be irreplaceable treasure within.