Startups are encouraged to incorporate patent analytics in their business strategy development to identify trends and gaps in the market.
Intellectual Property (IP) Strategist Jason Loh, during a webinar hosted by the IP Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), Japan External Trade Organization and the Japan Patent Office, said startups should be in the know about the industry of interest prior to developing a technology.
Loh is an innovation investor who has over two decades of experience in the startup sector in Asia. He is also a founder of Piece Future, which is an Asian IP investment bank with investments in more than 30 startups.
He said conducting IP research and analytics will bode well for the success of the startups. “You’ll be amazed by the amount of information you can find through patent analytics.”
According to IPOPHL, patent analytics refers to “an in-depth study of patent data from which meaningful correlations and patterns between and among inventors, key technologies, industries and geographical distributions may be established to spot trends and identify gaps.”
Loh said the Philippines can benefit from patent intelligence as it has a lot to offer to international markets.
“Many startups often don’t know where to start, looking very deeply into new technology areas in the market when in fact they can utilize information generated from patent analysis to position themselves and develop their core competence from what they already have,” he said.
Noel A. Catibog, executive director of the Technology Transfer and Promotion Division of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), told startups they should consult experts and seek government support in marketing and protecting their invented products.
Catibog stressed that the technology development should be hinging on an industry need, noting that many startups usually fail to consider this.
PCAARRD, he said, offers help in crafting business plans, marketing studies and feasibility studies.
“We have also established our technology network for our incubators and we provide grants now to startups adopting locally generated technologies,” Catibog added.
The council has 16 agri-aqua technology business incubators which gained from patent intelligence as of last year. They have generated 1,603 jobs and P68.7 million in gross income.
PCAARRD is teaming up with IPOPHL in seeking for new technologies to develop with the help of the latter’s patent analysis expertise.
IPOPHL said providing patent analytics is its primary service to promote the use of patent information for technology development. This has resulted in several patent landscape reports (PLRs), which are comprehensive studies on an entire industry.
The agency’s Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau (DITTB) has produced a total of 40 PLRs to date. These are mostly in the areas of agriculture and electronics.
“To avoid commercialization pitfalls, innovators and startups must learn the value of having an IP-centric innovation and business model. They can start by exploring IPOPHL’s patent analytics service, which can help them map out their research and technology directions and even anticipate risks, all with a fuller view of the current and future industry landscape,” DITTB Director Mary Grace Cruz-Yap said.