Technology Scouting and Its Relevance

Technology scouting and its importance. Let’s discuss. Growth! If you work in business, you will hear this word all the time. This growth creates market leaders. But how do we achieve this growth? By selling as many products or services as possible? And what drives the sales? Cost, affordability, reach, consistent & disruptive innovation, and a progressive approach are the answers. 

The main asset is progressive or consistent innovation, which should be taken into account. As a result, effective measures need to be taken to prevent your innovation from being copied. 

The question now is how big players like Google, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, and others protect their innovations. – Patents! 

Patents give inventors the exclusive right to prevent or stop others from commercially exploiting their inventions, and strong patent portfolios are motivating factors behind the success of such large players. 

So, do businesses only invest in R&D and the protection of their innovations? Not at all. 

Today, everyone in every domain or field, from universities to large corporations, is striving to innovate, whether it is in telecommunications, electronics, automobiles, nanotechnology, or healthcare. This causes a massive rush in every domain, resulting in minor technological gaps and granularity in intellectual property creation. 

Due to intense competition in every industry, businesses or organizations are not only innovating or optimizing old technologies but also introducing new trends and technologies. This is their success story, and it is the reason they are market leaders. 

It is also asserted that for a company to succeed in the future, the rate of internal innovation must surpass the rate of external innovation. 

Scientists, scholars, engineers, and inventors understand the true value of patents, which is why patent filing is increasing; in countries like India, it has increased by 30% in the last 5 years, while the number of patents granted has nearly tripled. 

When it comes to patent benefits, it is obvious that patent holders can generate or receive large royalties by granting licenses to infringers or organizations that want to commercialize these inventions. 

On the other hand, what if your product disclosure coincides with a patent? Without re-designing, the following are possible solutions to this problem:

1. Go for a license: In this case, you must approach the patent inventors for a license and pay them royalties in exchange. These royalties could be fixed or variable, and they could also include sales shares.
2. Purchase the patent: This is a situation-specific solution if the patent holder is a small business and the product has high revenue generation potential. It can be an effective weapon against competitors.

Open Innovation Tech Scouting 

In terms of purchasing, many companies are currently collaborating with research institutes, universities, other companies, or even individuals to source technology and intellectual property. This strategy is known as “open innovation,” which is the practice of organizations and businesses sourcing ideas from both internal and external sources. 

Purchasing the right set of patents is a much better solution when considering potential and future value. This is where technology scouting comes in handy! 

Technology scouting is a technology management method that identifies new technologies or the latest trends, directs technology-related information into an organization, and aids in the acquisition of innovations, intellectual property, or patents. 

It is a critical tool in an organization’s technology management, used for strategic reasons to extract valuable insights into external technologies and internal requirements of an existing organization in order to carry out patent acquisition operations. Technology scouting is also known as competitive intelligence, and it is used to develop business or competitive strategies. 

Technology scouting to acquire the right set of patents: Things to keep in mind 

1. Identification of key players in technical domains: Technology scouting provides extensive information on key players in a specific technological domain, filing trends, number of patents, and so on. It also provides information about active firms, whether large or small, in terms of patents and revenue. An in-depth evaluation of its patent portfolio can be used to determine patent valuation and, thus, acquisition decisions.
2. Identifying universities, research institutes, or laboratories: It is well known that the origins of technology can be found in university laboratories. Many of the most recent technological trends are university spin-offs.
   Furthermore, we can look for major collaborations in innovation between organizations and universities.
3. Emerging technologies: We can develop futuristic strategies by analyzing technology clusters. We can collect data on potential markets and plan disruptive innovations. We can also spot emerging trends in specific geographies or locations.

Conclusion 

Technology scouting can provide a wealth of information. It can assist organizations in acquiring a diverse and valuable set of patents or patent portfolios. Furthermore, it provides in-depth insights and valuable data on the most recent trends in your field of interest. 

Our Methodology

XLSCOUT’s AI-powered patent analytics tools leverage explainable AI-based technologies to help businesses discover relevant technical information quickly. With XLSCOUT, it is ever so easier now to compare and analyze technology trends over time. You can now view and compare the latest trends in a specific technology using graphical dashboards and insightful landscape reports. Moreover, you can also identify the changes in competitor strategies.