Establishing IP into the Boardroom

The IP Department in this multinational company lacked top-level support or budget. Situated some 10 km away from headquarters it reported to the Chief Technology Officer and was seen primarily as an operational unit responsible for filing patents and trademarks, but with no particular further impact on business success. We were approached by the IP manager as he felt that his unit needed an IP strategy and repositioning.

Our Approach

We undertook a gap analysis and assessed the organizational context of the firm. We found that the company had neither undertaken an IP portfolio analysis nor had anyone outside the IP Department any particular understanding of what the work of the IP department was all about. In particular, senior management lacked any type of sense why and how IP mattered to the company. Against this background we established an IP communication strategy and launched a comprehensive in-house IP awareness campaign.

Impact

The IP Department started to be better able to align its work with the firm’s strategy as senior management started to gain a better understanding of IP. By the same token the role of the IP Department adapted to being more aggressive in embracing the firm’s profit motives.