What is patent analytics and what is it for?

Nowadays, technologies are developing at a rapid pace and, in order not to reinvent the wheel, the scientists and developers of technical solutions use all the experience accumulated in a particular field, then they analyze, eliminate some possible shortcomings of the already existing solutions, and subsequently, they create new technical solutions and new groups of technologies. For example, intelligent robots, quantum computers, neurotechnologies and bionic organs were sky-high only yesterday, but today these groups of technologies determine a state of the economic development. However, it is a complex task to obtain the objective data on the current state of the economy and to determine the upcoming directions of the economic development under the conditions of the rapid development of the technologies.

The main source through which it is possible to analyze the development of the technological directions, to assess the competitiveness of the technologies, to determine the strategies for bringing products to the local and global markets, to find technological and business partners is the patent information, which includes the information on the patents granted, the applications filed, the priority fields, the protection strategies and other aspects of the patent defense of the upcoming technologies and innovative products. In the recent years, the patent information has become more widely used by economists, social science researchers, heads, businessmen, and, of course, professionals. Thus, the use of the patent information has covered many tactical and strategic kinds of the activities, and its scope has become so broad that it is extremely difficult to assess the overall picture of the state of the relevant branch and this will require a lot of time. In this regard, a large number of the analytical products and services for processing the patent information through patent analytics are being created. In the patent offices of the leading countries, special directions for the business use of patent documentation are being formed, and search services for the patent analytics are being created.

In general, the patent analytics is the most important tool for promoting innovative business. Its use is necessary for the innovative economy, as it allows identifying the upcoming directions of the development of the various sectors of the economy, improving the quality of the programs for the innovative development, analyzing the work of competitors and understanding the presence or absence of the technological advantages over other companies, and it also allows abandoning inefficient solutions and pointing out to more efficient technologies that meet the needs of the company, increasing the efficiency of the research and development and reducing the time for their development.

Thus, for example, the FIPS offers the following tools of the patent analytics:

- the patent landscapes;

- the patent technology intelligence;

- the research and development entourage;

- the research of patent portfolios.

Among the above said patent tools, the branch patent landscape includes a comprehensive research of the modern technologies, products and services based on the patent and non-patent information: trends, strategies, geography, a technical analysis, companies, authors, patent disputes, namely, it allows determining the priorities of the scientific and technological development, the competitiveness of the Russian technologies and the potential for import substitution, forming a comprehensive scientific and technological program, strategies and plans for the development of the markets of the national technological initiative, innovative territorial clusters. The patent technology intelligence includes in-depth profiling the branch companies, the technologies, products and services in the field of the company’s (organization’s) technological priority, namely, it allows selecting the technological directions for investing, conducting a competitive analysis and selecting a strategy for patenting. The research and development entourage includes an assessment of perspectivity for the research and development offered to be included in the program for the research and development, namely, it allows the prioritization of the research and development, developing the programs for the researches and developments of the organization (company), evaluating the applications for the research and development for financing within the framework of the Federal and departmental target programs. The analysis of the patent portfolio includes segmenting the patent portfolio according to: the technology segments with building up the patent landscapes according to each segment; the groups of the importance of the patents with the assessment of the potential for commercializing and developing the recommendations for the specific methods for protection, namely, it allows assessing the portfolio of the company’s patents, strengthening the protection in respect of the valuable subject matters of intellectual property, and conducting an additional inventory of the subject matters of intellectual property recognized as the least valuable.

Among the above tools and their functionality, we can see that the patent analytics products may be applied in the interests of the branch executive authorities, high-tech companies, scientific and educational organizations. Thus, the patent analytics is a set of the methods, techniques, tools and measurements that allow researching the directions of the scientific and technological development based on the patent information.

For example, the company X is planning to start a new business or to develop new products. To do this, the company X needs to get an overall picture of the state of the relevant technical branch, as well as to predict accurately the market needs.  The patent analytics can cope with the above said tasks.  It will help to determine the evolution of the technology, the trend of the technical changes, the cycle of the technology life duration, the competitors’ technologies, and the solutions that help to cope with the possible problems of the technology analyzed. After receiving the results, the company X will be able to aware of the timeliness of the development and to focus on the problems of the technology being developed, if any, what will help to create absolutely a new product and to avoid a violation of the rights, and, consequently, to save a lot of money that are necessary for conducting the legal proceedings or paying damages for the losses. As a result of using the patent analytics, the new product of the company X will appear at the market, which is filled with new functionalities and which, at the same time, takes into account the advantages and functionality of its predecessors.

Thus, the patent analytics will help to understand the intentions of the competitors, to determine the technological trends, to find the developers, to identify the patents that cannot be violated, and many other things, and its efficient use will contribute to a success of any enterprise, both large and small, what will afford opening new business prospects for business in terms of the strategic or tactical use of the patent analytics for the detailed study of one’s business strategy at the domestic and export markets.