Enhancing the efficiency of intellectual property management: a case study of leading research institute in Korea

Abstract

Many organisations have recognised the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) and have tried to increase it. However, this inevitably led to an increase in costs related to IPR. Thus, a reasonable balance between IPR growth and its administrative costs is called for. This paper aims to suggest the solution to this problem through ETRI's case analysis. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is a leading research institute for information and communications technology in Korea. This paper first describes the vision and performance of ETRI's intellectual property management. Second, it describes the challenges facing ETRI's intellectual property management. Third, it presents its strategies and techniques to deal with these challenges. Fourth, the performance of the improved IP management efforts is analysed by using data envelopment analysis method. The result showed that ETRI was successful in that it could obtain higher profitability and more efficiency. Finally, some guidelines for efficient IP management are suggested based on the study.