“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Peter Drucker – management consultant, educator, and author

Within an innovative business there is often a spectrum of personality types, each with something to contribute to the business. However, each have differing mindsets and often clashing views around innovation, commercialisation and intellectual property. It is not until there is an alignment amongst the participants within the business that there can be a cultural shift towards embracing innovation that leads to a significant increase in organisational value.

Those engaged in helping the innovation community often identify two key and often disparate personality types they work with: the scientists and engineers on the one hand, and the entrepreneurs on the other hand – accepting of course that this is a generalisation.

Strategic planning often occurs at a Board level and many methodologies have been developed to implement this. However, Boards are often not well represented by scientists and entrepreneurs who work more at an operational rather than at a governance level. Consequently, lofty ambitions expressed at Board level for implementing an innovation culture may not be readily adopted by those at the coalface.

The question is, how do we reconcile quite different people and align them towards a valuable innovation culture?

A three-fold approach involves first understanding the key personnel in the business, then articulating a common goal, and finally developing a unifying IP strategy to achieve that goal.

The Players

In general, scientists and engineers love technology and for them intellectual property is thought of only in terms of obtaining a patent. Researchers often care more about earning the respect of their peers and making a positive impact through publication of their research, than they do about commercialisation of their innovation. And for some, IP and its associated commercialisation can run counter to their personal values.

In contrast, entrepreneurs are often not technical, are not familiar with what can be a convoluted R&D process and are focussed upon the business goals. They understand that intellectual property is a business tool and involves more than just patents.

The Goal

To reach alignment, those involved need a goal or vision that all parties can agree on.

A vision that can be achieved in three years is usually preferable. Five years or more can lead to complacency, while three years enables a tighter schedule to keep on track.

Typically, entrepreneurs prefer a vision to have numbers attached to it, such as a dollar value in revenue or profit. However, a numbers approach can feel artificial, and this can be off-putting to the scientific members of the team. On the other hand, an altruistic vision that does not translate to commercial gain will be off-putting to the entrepreneur.

Drawing out a vision from a team can be an uncomfortable process somewhat akin to a massage. After working on it, pushing hard at the knots, suddenly there is an “aha” moment when it all settles into place and feels good.

Whatever the vision, it must:

• define the sandpit in which the business plays.
• list at least one quality/value that those in the business believes in
• resonate with key players.
• be measurable, and
• be translatable to an actionable strategic plan – which hopefully includes an IP strategic plan.

For example, a suitable goal may be “To be the preferred manufacturer of reliable domestic veterinary devices in the United Kingdom”.  This has measurable values (reliability and preference) as well as defining the market. The values speak to the technical team, and the result of being the preferred reliable manufacturer speaks to premium pricing and market size loved by the entrepreneur.

IP Strategic Plan

The purpose of the IP strategy is to help enable the vision.

Considering reliability as part of a vision, the IP strategy may include recommending systems and related IP protections around ensuring reliability. For example, a design registration on tamper-evident packaging, or a knowledge management system that restricts access to the details of a manufacturing process.

If the subject matter of the market is defined (say, domestic veterinary devices), then an R&D plan can be devised including timings that entrepreneurs can align with in their commercialisation plan.

The breadth of the patent claims (and underlying research) can be tailored to the subject matter and IP rights filed in territories where there are receptive markets or identifiable competitors.

If the key players have the discipline to look to the goal and ensure that the IP strategy is followed, then decisions are more easily made – as they will be referenced against the plan which in turn is derived from achieving the vision.

In house disciplines should also include tracking metrics relevant to the vision as well as having inclusive practices so all parties can see their role in achieving the vision.

Final thoughts

Understanding the mindset of key personnel in an organisation and working together towards a common well-articulated goal is the first step to aligning quite differing perspectives. Having a clear IP strategy plan that facilitates achieving the goal can foster understanding of the relevance of the different organisational roles.

Together we are stronger.