Innovate or Perish: Managing the Enduring Technology Company in the Global Market

A New Methodology

If the goal is conscious design, how do we raise our consciousness? We need a model that comprehends the nature, requirements, fragility, foibles, and objectives of the innovation asset. We need a methodology conceived with the notion of innovation as an asset at its very core. But, as suggested, innovation assets are unique, and so the IAP approach will also necessarily employ elements of traditional IP management. If you look at how lightweight and strong composite materials are, you realize that power derives from the blending of different materials. The power of the IAP approach also rises from the synthesis of several complementary materials: IP management and investment management methodologies. We will develop a methodological framework and the tools necessary to create and maintain a powerful IAP portfolio. The portfolio itself—and just as importantly, the exercise of its development—supports, informs, and shapes commercialization interests with the anticipation and goal of realizing value from that asset as its focus. Most, if not all, of the methodologies; resources; and, in particular, solutions and tools employed to develop an IAP portfolio in a research organization easily generalize to many operating scenarios.

On the more traditional IP management side, you can think of the IAP approach to innovation as having five key operational elements and one unifying element. As you might expect, each element helps inform and shape the other; this is not a ...