TURNING IP INFORMATION INTO A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE : Developing a software tool for competitive and technology intelligence at an SME
Shramchenko, Maxim (2011)
Shramchenko, Maxim
Jyväskylän ammattikorkeakoulu
2011
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201105208950
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201105208950
Tiivistelmä
According to EPO, patent documents count for approximately 80 % of scientific and technical information world-wide. Only 5 – 10 % of the knowledge published in patent documents is contained in other sources. These facts make patent documents a crucial source of information for companies and organizations involved in research and development of new technologies. The objective of this work was to help one Finnish SME in utilizing patent information and turning it into superior knowledge about its competition and technology field. Action research was chosen as a methodology, in order to allow for more freedom for the author to solve the problem. First, the actual need of the company was revealed. Then the market of existing software solutions was studied and interviews with IPR and IT professionals carried out. These steps (actions) revealed an existence of a significant gap between professional and non-professional patent searching software tools and led to a decision to develop a new tool, which would be exclusively tailored to needs of SMEs. As a result, a new software tool for working with patent documents was developed and presented to the company. Due to the fact that the needs of the SME were generic and were no different to the needs of many other SME, the developed tool has potential to be widely used in Finland and other EU countries.