10 Powerful & Simple Patent Landscaping Techniques

Understanding past and current developments in technology are one of the most important tasks in developing a future business & research strategy to avoid potential risks. Patent Landscape analysis/Patent landscaping is the top activity performed by the IP and R&D departments to understand the past and current developments in the technology.

Many companies hire consultancy firms or have in-house specialized teams to conduct patent landscaping studies to improvise strategies in order to dodge potential risks. Patent landscape analysis in small/mid-size companies is less frequent considering:

1. It needs hundreds of hours to spend
2. Needs expertise
3. Needs training in Big Data Analysis & Landscaping
4. Access to multiple data sources & tools is required
5. High budget

This statement from a WIPO report reveals a core reason why patent landscape analysis is often problematic and sometimes not terribly useful. Specifically, the massive effort and reliance on numerous experts and complex resources, both legally and technically – and the fact that the report “will be out of date within days.”

However, I disagree with the above viewpoint and believe that patent landscaping can be accomplished quickly and with considerably less effort. But only if the goal is clear and the necessary resources are available.

Here are the 10 Simple and powerful techniques to extract deep insights from a patent landscape with ease.

1. The objective should be clear
2. Access to clean and standardized data
3. Why is data clustering important
4. AI/NLP-based engine to extract deep insights
5. Big Data Trend Analysis
6. Key Competitor Insights
7. Whitespaces & Opportunities extraction
8. Making sense out of Insights data
9. Analyze, Set & Repeat – Track Evolution
10. Compare Trends over time