TRIZ and Intellectual Property Management

The capability to manage Intellectual Property is becoming essential, especially for SMEs that actively try to face competition of emerging countries and Far East (China, India, etc.). Whether a company is a small, mid, or large one, a strong intellectual property portfolio will provide the company with the ability to become a more effective competitor and enhance shareholder value. Nevertheless, some aspects are often neglected, such as the importance of patents, not only as a legal protection from unauthorized copying of inventions, but also as a tool for the innovation of both product and process. Establishing a strategy for Intellectual Property Management is important for every company that uses technology to secure a significant competitive advantage. In such a context, methodologies and tools for systematic innovation, such as TRIZ, can help to deal with specific issues of Intellectual Property Management (IPM) and are key issues to systematically innovate product/process/service. These themes are really actual and are attracting more and more interest from both industrial and academic communities.