White space analysis is defined as the process of identifying gaps or voids in technology in order to define a less populated area in a patenting technology. White space analysis is also known as grey area identification analysis or white space opportunity mapping.
The grey area is divided into two categories: active whitespace and inactive whitespace. The presence of active whitespace defines the presence of opportunities in technology and its potential advancement with minimal hurdles.
On the contrary, inactive whitespace defines existing voids in technology but is restricted by the country’s rules and regulations, which create a hindrance to investment opportunities in the voided technology.
White space analysis is used to identify market competitors, sales figures, risk assessments, voids, customer details, and other data. An organisation can anticipate and decide whether to sell its products horizontally or vertically using white space analysis.
Vertical selling is defined as selling a product in its upgraded version at a higher cost of sale, whereas horizontal selling is defined as cross-selling, which is the co-selling of products as supplements or complements.
For example, in vertical selling, the basic version and features of a product are updated to a new or higher level, increasing vertical sales, whereas in horizontal selling, products such as laptops are accompanied by bags and stands as a supplementary, increasing product sales.
A white space analysis is typically requested by a company that wants to expand its market presence into a new domain. In short, a white space analysis is requested by a company looking to expand and strengthen its intellectual property portfolio, or by a new company looking to build an IP portfolio.
For example, this white space analysis is useful when an entity is involved in the shoe-making process and wishes to enter the cosmetics domain.
In another case, when an organization is working in shoe-making technology and is looking for ways to enhance the effectiveness and quality of the shoes by evaluating a new technology or process for strengthening their existing shoe-making technology, this white space analysis is useful.
In most cases, white space analysis is performed as part of the patent landscape search and analysis. The process of identifying the grey area follows the same basic steps as technology landscape search and analytics.
The first phase involves identifying and categorizing a broad technology into major technologies, types, sources, applications, characteristics, methods, and other similar categories. This corresponds to the landscape’s technology segmentation.
This type of preliminary planning would give the researcher an idea of how to approach the process in an organized manner in order to cover the entire broad domain. This is possible in both automatic and manual mode.
Several commercial patent databases provide specialized services to businesses looking to expand their business, such as automatic landscape and white space technology segmentation and additional analysis. With a single click, the data in this type of analysis can be adjusted to meet the needs of the company.
The retrieval of relevant patents, non-patent literature, publications, theses and dissertations, blogs, commercial products, and other materials corresponding to the technology domain with bibliographic details is the second phase in patent white space.
This can be accomplished by conducting keyword-based, inventor-based, patent classification-based, and applicant or assignee-based searches in both patent and non-patent database sources. The next step is to standardize the data. Data standardization includes:
The third phase is technology segmentation. Alternatively, the third phase is accomplished by grouping the identified techniques from the citations into broad technologies.
The last phase in the white space process is mapping major technologies with sub-technologies and their attributes such as methods, characteristics, material type, and applications.
Furthermore, the non-patent literature is examined to identify existing problems and their solutions, as well as to address future problems that may arise during the research and development of the innovation.
To demonstrate the challenges, the data can be presented in a matrix format with a heat map view and in a comparative manner.
White space opportunity mapping is the process of mapping technologies with their attributes such as sub-technologies, applications, characteristics, and so on, in order to identify the domain’s innovation void. The mapping’s focus is based on the following factors:
There are several ways to identify the white spaces.
In general, white space analysis is used to forecast potential opportunities and risks in a technological domain. The predicted analysis may provide the company with comfort and reliability to take the next investment step in their expansion and venture with minimal risk.
In some cases, companies refuse to move ahead with the white space search and analysis. Because they believe the predicted data is not reliable or valid. And, this could result in a loss of investment, effort, and time.
The White Space Analysis Business Report is divided into several sections. They are:
The grey area identification analysis can be performed manually or automatically. Subsequently, the report can be presented in a pool of excel files containing a list of pertinent patents and NPL. These files are manually segmented according to white-spaced domains.
Several commercial patent databases, on the other hand, allow the entity to either manually or automatically analyze the patent literature in order to uncover the basic insights needed for white space analysis.
There should be two scenarios for the white space analysis. They are:
White space analysis is used by employees at all levels of a company.
A voided area, for example, may have a few associated negative space hurdles. These hurdles make it difficult for payers to enter the area. These negative hurdles would aid in forecasting the anticipated risk that comes with the company’s new investments.
As previously stated, conducting white space mind map analysis is similar to reviewing patent literature using patent landscapes.
Openly available patent databases and patent office databases, such as Google Patents, World Intellectual Property Organization-Patentscope, Lens.org, FreePatentsOnline, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Espacenet, Japan Patent Office (IPDL), Chinese Patent Office (SIPO), and many others, are useful in this analysis process.
XLSCOUT, STN, Thomson Innovation, Questel-Orbit, PatBase, TotalPatent, and many other commercial databases are available.
There are a number of tools available for locating commercial products and non-patent literature. These include journal websites, search engines such as Science Direct, Google Scholar, and others, dissertations and theses, and commercial websites.
XLSCOUT’s AI-based tools use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to provide useful insights into the technologies.
With a single click, our tools provide insights into the grouping of patents and publications in a domain.
The insights are,
Based on the intellectual property dataset, trend-wise analysis shows the technological advancements over time. Also, it gives the specific information about recently evolving technologies in the current year.
Our one-click solution, powered by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques. It saves you time and effort by automatically providing the necessary details for the white space analysis early on.
Because of various intellectual property parameters, the tool’s analysis is customizable to the client’s needs and requirements.