Thinking of increasing your innovation budget? Are you sure it’ll bring results?
Why do we ask?
While innovation is a top priority for 79% of companies according to a 2023 Boston Consulting Group survey, successfully achieving innovation objectives remains a significant challenge. An NTT DATA study found that only 21% of organizations consistently meet their goals.
So the question is: how do you ensure your innovation efforts don’t face any hurdles?
Let’s go over five questions every leader must ask to manage innovation effectively.
5 Key Questions to Determine Innovation Management Success
Here are the questions innovation managers must ask to hit the bull’s eye:
1. Are we ensuring strong, defensible patents?
A slow patent filing process can cost you strategic opportunities. In competitive industries, even a few weeks’ delay can mean missing out on market advantage. Unclear review processes and frequent rejections are signs you need to fix your patent filing process.
So, how do you speed things up without compromising on the quality?
Start by identifying bottlenecks in your current innovation process:
- How long does it take to get your invention disclosure filled out?
- How fast is the review process from your review committee and legal team?
- Are your filings getting rejected more than expected? Assess patent filing efficiency by checking:
→ Quality of invention disclosures
→ The time taken at each stage
→ Rejection rate of filings
→ Attorney feedback cycles
Optimize Process with Innovation Management Software
Make sure your team is using standardized invention disclosure forms. This will help you capture all the necessary details, reducing back-and-forth revisions.
Unlike most tools, InspireIP’s IP Assist is integrated with PQAI. It helps identify similar inventions and reduces time spent on art searches.
Collaborate with patent attorneys directly through a centralized platform for real-time updates and streamlined communication.
2. Do We Have Full Visibility in our Patent Portfolio?
Avoid guesswork and aim for visibility into your patent portfolio. This is the ideal way to identify redundant patents, optimize R&D investments toward high-value innovations, and make strategic decisions.
Let’s take a scenario. You hold hundreds of patents but without a structured portfolio review, this happens:
- You unknowingly maintain expired or redundant patents, draining maintenance fees
- R&D investments go toward innovations already protected, leading to duplication
- Your legal team misses gaps in protection, exposing core technology to competitors
The end result? You’re overspending while leaving valuable innovations unprotected.
In this scenario, you need a proactive approach to manage your patent portfolio. Take Pfizer for example.
- They participate in Patent Information Initiatives to make key patents accessible.
- They withdraw outdated patents that no longer align with their roadmap
- They prioritize high-impact innovations, optimizing R&D for the strongest IP protection
Gain Visibility with Innovation Management Software
Track various patents like utility, design, and provisional types in one centralized platform. Access your valuable assets quickly and keep everything organized.
For example, IP Assist integrates with major IP management and docketing systems so you can track deadlines, renewals, and litigation in one place, cost-effectively.
You can also optimize high-value assets across jurisdictions and use data-driven insights to evaluate your portfolio performance.
3. Are We Collaborating Effectively with Key Stakeholders?
You bet it takes a village of inventors, IP teams, and patent attorneys to collaborate efficiently for IP management!
But did you know? The average number of inventors per utility patent rose to 3.2 in 2024, nearly double the 1.7 inventors per patent recorded in 1976.
This means your team is bigger, and collaboration is even more critical. That’s why modern tools are essential to support team-based innovation effectively.
Without a system in place, teams face:
- Fragmented communication, leading to errors and delays
- Lack of transparency, causing duplicate efforts and overlooked filings
- Slow issue resolution, stalling innovation and time-to-market
The fix? Modern collaboration tools.
Enhance collaboration with Innovation Management Software
Keep all communications, documents, and decisions in one place for full transparency.
Tools like IP Assist facilitate direct collaboration with law firms and attorneys, streamlining meeting scheduling and information sharing.
You can also automate task assignments and ensure smooth coordination between internal teams and external counsel.
With real-time notifications, you can inform stakeholders of critical deadlines, updates, and actions required.
4. Are We Leveraging AI and Automation to Boost Efficiency?
Do you think manual processes can keep up with the evolving patent landscape? Think again. AI and automation aren’t optional though some organizations are against it.
Let us share some facts from WIPO:
- The top five patent offices saw a 4.4% annual growth rate in applications from 2012-2021, leading to longer wait times
- Global patent filings hit 3.6 million in 2023, a 2.7% increase from the previous year
However, what do you think happens when you use AI? Brazil’s INPI has cut its patent backlog by 80% and reduced examination times by 50% using AI-powered workflow optimization.
Without AI and automation, you risk:
- Slow processing times that delay market entry.
- Higher human errors in data entry and document reviews.
- Missed innovation opportunities due to outdated manual workflows.
Boost Patent Strategy with AI and Innovation Management Software
If you could evaluate innovative ideas through a streamlined 3-4-step process, wouldn’t it be easier to collaborate and keep everyone aligned, ensuring faster decision-making?
That’s one of the things you could do with an innovation management tool. Here are some more things you could do with InspireIP’s Idea Assist:
- Brainstorm ideas effectively using Inventor Assistant and explore innovative concepts.
- Analyze market trends, and patent landscapes with AI-powered evaluation and prioritize high-potential ideas.
- Replace manual data entry and document analysis with AI-driven workflows to process data without errors.
Note: AI is not replacing human expertise. It’s amplifying the processes and workflows, resulting in faster patents, and smarter filings.
5. Is Our Patent Management Aligned with Business Objectives?
If your patents don’t support business growth and innovation, they become expensive liabilities instead of valuable assets.
A 2024 Digital Trends in Operations Survey revealed that 69% of companies struggle with ineffective tech investments, with 59% citing multiple reasons for underperformance.
Similarly, if your IP portfolio isn’t aligned with business objectives, it could become an underperforming asset instead of fueling innovation.
Continuously assess your patent portfolio to ensure every asset contributes to long-term success.
Drive Business Growth with Innovation Management Software
Who doesn’t like to invest in patents that truly matter? With IP Assist, you can streamline invention disclosure using scoring tools and prior art searches. Collaborate directly with law firms and attorneys and evaluate high-impact innovations.
Even more important is aligning your patent investment with current market trends, so you can make use of emerging opportunities in AI, biotech, robotics, and other fields.
Final Note on Innovation Management
Don’t forget that asking the right questions can help measure the success of your innovation management strategy. Make sure you align your innovation efforts with business goals.
InspireIP’s IP Assist and Idea Assist provide the tools necessary to track and evaluate your innovation efforts effectively, from idea generation to patent management.
Finally, do you want to eliminate patent backlogs and streamline your innovation pipeline? Get ahead of your competitors and simplify your patent and idea processes with InspireIP.
