The future of information management – How Inter-disciplinary knowledge management with the right software tools will maximize enterprise innovation.

The direction patent research is heading in is a topic on the minds of most information professionals. Or at least it should be.

The combination of knowledge process outsourcing, new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools, along with the expansion of self-service research at large corporations, requires information professionals to rethink their roles and consider how the future will impact their jobs.

Vashe Kanesarajah, Head of Strategic Development in the IP Group at Clarivate Analytics recently published an interesting white paper on the future of patent research. Kanesarajah outlines five essential attributes that will shape the role of corporate information departments in the future:

  1. Data translation Making sense of the complex legal and technical jargon embedded in patents and scientific literature.
  2. Virtual Capabilities Identifying, selecting and building relationships with external partners to add intelligence and eliminate coverage gaps.
  3. Center of Excellence (COE) Creating and leading efforts to promote interdisciplinary working groups and project management across the enterprise.
  4. Embracing AI and Data Science Utilizing emerging technologies for modern corporations to gain efficiency.
  5. Corporate Integration Making corporate leaders aware of the information derived from patents and scientific literature, and using it to make informed business, legal and R&D decisions.

To successfully implement these attributes, companies must move away from the traditional siloed departments (legal, marketing, corporate development, R&D), and create a much more collaborative environment, connecting people and ideas across the enterprise. This encourages cross-functional communication and establishes interdisciplinary project management, turning vast amounts of data into actionable results.

At IP Checkups, we’ve been promoting this cross disciplinary information management approach since we founded the company in 2004 and even before that through Irving Rappaport’s work at Smart Patents and Aurigin Systems in the early 1990s.

To implement cross-disciplinary information management systems at the enterprise level requires two key components:

  1. A trained workforce that understands the nuances involved with strategy and communications at the intersection of business, law, and technology.
  2. A software platform  and supporting processes to capture, manage, and distribute institutional knowledge across the enterprise.

The best way to train people as stated in point 1, is through academic programs such as the Center for Intellectual Property (CIP) in Gothenburg, Sweden. This 2-year graduate program and associated executive education curriculum focuses on the strategic management of Intellectual assets. The curriculum applies a cross-disciplinary approach (business, law, and technology) to solve complex problems in the knowledge economy. Upon graduation from this program, CIP students are prepared to manage and implement all five attributes outlined in Kanesarajah’s paper.

As for software and processes (point 2 listed above), IP Checkups has developed a software platform, PatentCAM™ backed by our proven patent landscape analysis process to organize and manage competitive patent and technical information. The combination of our software and processes create policies within the enterprise, that reinforce cross-disciplinary practices while establishing a centralized knowledge repository that turns disparate information into informed decision making.

Knowledge process outsourcing, powerful machine learning tools and self-service research are having a profound impact on corporate information departments. In order to keep up with these developments, corporate information professionals must be trained across disciplines (business, law, technology). A trained workforce along with our software and processes can drive new business, IP protection and innovation opportunities.

As a quick update to this post, check out the excellent webinar elaborating on Vashe Kanesarajah’s excellent article. The webinar is sponsored by Derwent and hosted by IP Watchdog. The topic is Modern Patent Research: Capitalizing on Information Across Your Organization. You can check it out here. Featuring moderator Gene Quinn, along with IP Management experts Benoit Sollie, Debra Bannville, and Vasheharan Kanesarajah,

Interested in learning more? Contact us.