The Innovation area is certainly the "apple of the eye" of any company. However, working with this subject means constantly thinking about the chances of success, as well as the risks involved. The correct and efficient management of intellectual property and intangible assets of a company allows for better management of these risks and also enables the protection of results, as a form of recognition of the innovation generated and financial return on the investments made.
When it comes to managing Intellectual Property, the first forms of protection that come to mind are immediately trademarks and patents. Indeed, these are the most commonly used instruments, almost exhaustively.
However, in an environment where open innovation is encouraged and collaborative co-creation in networks is stimulated, it is necessary to have an even broader perspective to appropriate the results generated in innovation projects, which does not necessarily imply filing a patent application and exercising a monopoly over the generated innovation. In other words, Intellectual Property should be seen not only as a tool to ensure exclusivity and competitive advantage over a particular technology but also as one of the main driving forces of innovation.
To this end, it is essential to have a good understanding, within the universe of the company and its partners or network, of the available intellectual property modalities that can be explored in the country of origin and also in key markets, whether in the form of a general strategy for the innovations generated or in the form of a specific strategy for each topic.
For example, a company that generates innovation like Natura can communicate and appropriate the results generated by broadly disseminating the subject in specialized media, thus safeguarding rights, valuing the researcher’s work, and bringing recognition to the company to which they belong within that subject, enhancing the final consumer's perception of the added value to the product.
On the other hand, depending on the subject in question, the best path may be the most obvious, that is, the appropriation of results through patents, while cumulative protection through other instruments should not be discarded. The important thing is that the choice of the best modality is made consciously, not just "patenting for the sake of patenting."
In this sense, it is worth mentioning that even the patent modality has a range of possibilities that can and should be explored to leverage open innovation, such as green patents and adherence to tools like WIPO Green, Green Exchange, among others.
Thus, it is clear that the benefits of using Intellectual Property as a tool to generate more value for Innovation are numerous, among which we can mention the sophistication and recognition of the Intellectual Property model, elevating it to a new level that adds differentiation to the Innovation strategy, breaking paradigms through inspiration from global models of radical innovation, generating value by appropriating and effectively exploring creations from an economic, social, and environmental perspective, in addition to ensuring a more solid portfolio of intangible assets.
Cristiane Rodrigues is a pharmacist graduated from São Judas Tadeu University – SP. She currently works in the technical area of Intellectual Property, focusing on intelligence and strategy for protection and risk assessment.
