Why read this report?
Thanks to the hundreds of global IP professionals who participated in the Clarivate Analytics IP Operations Trends Survey, the information provided in this report represents real-world, real-time actionable insights from law firms and research institutions to corporations and consultancies representing all major industries. It is designed to help anyone immersed in IP operations, as well as those who lead IP teams and practices, to quickly and easily identify trending issues and leverage the learnings to manage IP operations services and solutions as essential investments instead of costs. The survey and analysis indicate that the time has come for the totality of IP operations to be structured, budgeted, managed and evaluated on both a qualitative and quantitative return-on-investment (ROI) basis.
What are the top three trends challenging IP operations?
According to the survey, there is good news on the demand side for IP operational services with parallel needs on the supply side to control expenses while mitigating risks.
1. Almost half of the respondents reported increases in R&D spending
2. Almost half of the respondents reported increases in patent filings over the past three years
3. Among the respondents there is growing concern that cost-cutting, doing more with less, continuing to rely on manual processes and other factors are putting IP operations at increasing risk. With demand for highly-specialized IP talent and technology often exceeding IP resource supply, there is painful straining and draining taking place across the IP operations spectrum.
What are the top three priorities for IP departments?
C-suite executives, university presidents and other leaders know creating, protecting, monetizing and defending IP is imperative and indispensable. Yet, the operational intricacies involved in doing so may be opaque to them. As a result, IP operations can be perceived as costs instead of investments.
This is the framework around the survey’s findings on IP department priorities – of which the top three are:
1. Aligning IP strategies to business objectives
2. Reducing IP operating costs
3. Improving service levels to clients/stakeholders
Survey respondents understand the need to invest their time more closely tying both operations processes and outcomes to organizational priorities while proactively taking on cost-cutting challenges. In addition to aligning IP strategies to business objectives, measuring the outcomes and showing where and how efficiency gains can be made will help drive the cost-to-ROI shift.
