An analysis of patents from the Business-Driven IT Management research community

Many important (particularly industry) solutions to research problems are included in patents, but not in academic publications. We studied patents invented by researchers associated with the annual IEEE/IFIP Business-Driven IT Management (BDIM) workshops and selected for in-depth analysis 4 granted patents and 19 pending patent applications most closely related to BDIM topics. These patents address diverse applications, most commonly resource allocation and contract management. Similarly, they have diverse official classifications, most often the International Patent Classification classes G06Q 10/00 and G06F 17/60 and the US Patent Classification class 705/7. We found that all analyzed patents were invented by either IBM or HP employees and determined the most prolific inventors, both those associated with the BDIM workshops and additional co-inventors. Our year-by-year analysis indicates some growth in interest in BDIM-related innovation. By examining citations by and citations of the studied 23 patents, we found additional BDIM-related patents. We also concluded that only 4 patents emphasize ease of operation, important for crossing the chasm between early and mainstream customers. Additional information and insights about the BDIM area from our study complement the past academic literature surveys and can guide future patent analyses.