Intellectual Property Generation Research Articles

Assessment of awareness on IPR activities among Indian academics – a cross-sectional study

PurposeProtection of intellectual property (IP) is important to leverage its commercial potential. This study aims to examine and comprehend the level of understanding of intellectual property rights (IPR) among Indian academics. The study covers three main aspects – awareness level of IP among Indian academics, comprehending if the current state of knowledge about IP is useful for commercialization and whether the current knowledge of IP activities among Indian academics is sufficient to support their professional career and generate revenues from their inventions.Design/methodology/approachA structured methodology was contemplated and applied. A cross-sectional study with a convenience sampling method was adopted. The duration of the study was six months from March to August 2021. A total of 500 Indian academics were approached, of which 116 responded with a response rate of 23.4%. A structured questionnaire was administered to the participants to understand their level of knowledge about IP. Furthermore, the data analysis was performed based on descriptive analysis.FindingsThe study findings revealed that the awareness among the participants about IP was minimal. The underlying reasons could be academics did not focus on generating IP through novel research, awareness of basic knowledge about IP was considerably low and inadequate to support their professional career, primary focus was on which publications are considered as one of the important criteria for performance management, national policies do not encourage collaborative research between university and industry that may lead to potential IP generation and the Indian academic set-up expects multitasking by its faculty members.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is an original contribution, based on the study carried out by the authors to understand the awareness of IP activities among Indian academics.

IP Audit: A Case Study of IIT Delhi

Intellectual property (IP), can be developed, owned, managed and commercialized to generate significant economic return to empower the organization. In this era where IP regimes are shifting drastically and where intangible assets are gaining prominence with huge momentum, identifying and efficiently utilizing intellectual assets owned by an institution is of utmost importance. Hence, it is now imperative for institutions to develop the expertise and capability not only to foster the generation and creation of IP through R & D, but also to manage the same. In this paper, the authors intend to understand the IP policy framework of the institution, and conduct a basic IP audit which helps to understand the strength of the IP management system.

Intellectual property rights policies of higher education institutions (HEIs) in India: a cross-sectional study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to assess the intellectual property (IP) policy and innovation practices of higher education institutions (HEIs) and to understand the impact of national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy at the ground level. It identifies the barriers of HEIs in the generation of IP, its commercialization and technology transfer.Design/methodology/approachThis cross-sectional study aims to understand the innovation practices and IP policy framework of HEIs in India. It was studied in a qualitative approach with a structured questionnaire tool deployed to the top management of HEIs (targeted respondents), using convenience sampling methods.FindingsThe results imply that IP policies and innovation practices of HEIs in India are evolving and need to align with the global standard as envisaged in the national IPR policy. Lack of commensurate incentives to the inventors, linkages with industries and facilities were found to be major barriers among HEIs and research institutions. Institutional IP policy shall be framed to promote industry linkages with universities resulting in successful IP generation and technology transfer.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size in this study is less; however, it does not have an impact on the study outcome, as it is a qualitative approach.Practical implicationsThis study brings awareness among stakeholders of IP generation and commercialization regarding the barriers and needed changes to overcome them through policy.Social implicationsIt helps policymakers to redesign the tools of IP and innovation policy to enable the innovation promotion at HEIs. This study identifies innovation practices and institutional barriers in the generation of IP.Originality/valueThis qualitative survey-based study helps in understanding the innovation practices of HEIs in India. It also aims to identify the barriers of HEIs on the generation and commercialization of IP.

Automatic Floorplanning and Standalone Generation of Bitstream-Level IP Cores

Partially reconfigurable designs on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) bring an opportunity for developers to license third-party intellectual property (IP) cores. There are multiple IP licensing models that can be used by the FPGA IP market. Their focus is mainly on feasibility and security; however, two major challenges have been ignored by almost all of them. First, both academic or industrial tools do not provide a flow to generate IPs in a standalone environment. Second, these tools only offer manual floorplanning of the IPs, which is both time and performance inefficient. In this work, we present a framework, that can be used by multiple parties to generate different parts of a design independently, that are compatible with each other. It also provides automatic floorplanning based on mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) that considers the distribution of heterogeneous resources in modern FPGAs, with efficient resource utilization as the main objective. The proposed floorplanning is evaluated with benchmarks from the related work. Furthermore, a use case of internal and open-source designs is used for the validation and evaluation of the independent IP generation and the floorplanner.

Intellectual property management system: Develop and self-assess using IPM model

The major concern in organizations, especially from developing countries, is that there is a huge gap in Intellectual Property (IP) generation and its commercialization. The key issue is that how this gap between IP generation and its commercialization can be reduced. Hence, there is a need to develop an IPM model, which can assist technology and IP managers to develop their own IPMS as well as help in self-assessment of the existing IPMS. This paper introduces an IPM model, which is easy to implement and follow and can be applied to any sector with some modifications. The model suggests 5 stages and 15 major IPM processes. The validation of the model confirmed effortless establishment of IPMS including the identification of potential IP. The IPM model also helped to reveal the gaps, if any, in the current IPMS, and facilitated strategic commercialization of organizational IP. The study followed the case study methodology.

The role of IT for managing intellectual property – An empirical analysis

The effective management of intellectual property (IP) is an increasingly complex challenge in today's global knowledge economy, especially for firms with large IP portfolios. Although information technology (IT) tools are a means to support the management of these portfolios, there is little insight in how firms actually make use of IT tools in this regard. Hence, this article analyzes how and for which processes firms use IT tools to support their IP management. Based on a data set of 106 IP intensive firms worldwide, we find that firms use at least one of three major IT tools for IP management: search tools, administrative tools, and evaluation tools. We also find that the use of IT for IP processes is decreasing along the IP value chain: firms use IT mainly in the early IP generation phase, e.g., for absorbing technological developments. The article concludes by outlining where and how IT tools can improve the management of IP.

Multidimensional DFT IP Generator for FPGA Platforms

Multidimensional (MD) discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is a key kernel algorithm in many signal processing applications. In this paper we describe an MD-DFT intellectual property (IP) generator and a bandwidth-efficient MD DFT IP for high performance implementations of 2-D and 3-D DFT on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platforms. The proposed architecture is generated automatically and is based on a decomposition algorithm that takes into account FPGA resources and the characteristics of off-chip memory access, namely, the burst access pattern of the synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM). The IP generator has been integrated into an in-house FPGA development platform, AlgoFLEX, for easy verification and fast integration. The corresponding 2-D and 3-D DFT architectures have been ported onto the BEE3 board and their performance measured and analyzed. The results shows that the architecture can maintain the maximum memory bandwidth throughout the whole procedure while avoiding matrix transpose operations used in most other MD DFT implementations. To further enhance the performance, the proposed architecture is being ported onto the newly released Xilinx ML605 board. The simulation results show that 2 K × 2 K images with complex 64-bit precision can be processed in less than 27 ms.

Managing Intellectual Property in Global Outsourcing for Innovation Generation

The globalization of markets and business operations is a trend that will continue strongly in the coming decades. One inescapable aspect of globalization has been the trend toward global outsourcing, especially that of knowledge-based services. Due to firms' compulsion to reduce costs in the developed world, the issue is not if a particular firm will outsource or offshore work but when it will outsource it and how effectively it will leverage outsourcing to achieve superior competitive advantage. An important implication of the outsourcing of knowledge-based services is the management of intellectual property (IP). Managers and researchers alike are interested in understanding the effects of global outsourcing of knowledge-based services on the management of IP. The challenge of accessing, exploiting, and defending IP in global outsourcing relationships is first examined in this paper. IP can be managed by balancing the trust and control and verification in the outsourcing relationship. Given that defending IP is a major concern for outsourcing firms, the moderating roles of multitier suppliers, supplier country legal regimes, and global supplier communities of practice on defending IP is examined in detail through moderating effect propositions. Finally, the paper examines the effect of accessing, defending, and exploiting IP in global outsourcing relationships on the generation of incremental and radical innovation for the outsourcing firm. This research tries to extend current academic research on global outsourcing in three ways. First, it offers a framework to understand the management of the buyer–seller relationship in the global outsourcing of knowledge-based services and its relationship to the management of IP and innovation generation. Second, the framework takes a broader perspective of outsourcing and innovation generation, including globalization, tiered suppliers, supplier country legal regimes, and global supplier communities of practice on defending IP. Third the research examines the effect of accessing, exploitation, and defense of IP on generation of incremental and radical innovation for the outsourcing firm. Managerial implications of this research and future research directions are also discussed.

Automatic IP Generation of FFT/IFFT Processors with Word-Length Optimization for MIMO-OFDM Systems

A systematic approach is presented for automatically generating variable-size FFT/IFFT soft intellectual property (IP) cores for MIMO-OFDM systems. The finite-precision effect in an FFT processor is first analyzed, and then an effective word-length searching algorithm is proposed and incorporated in the proposed IP generator. From the comparison, we show that our analysis of the finite precision effect in FFT is much more accurate than the previous work. With the flexible architecture and the effective word-length searching techniques, we can strike a good balance for the performance and the hardware cost of the generated IP cores. The generated FFT soft IP cores are portable and independent of the silicon technology, which helps to greatly reduce the design time. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed IP generator indeed provides FFT IPs which meet the requirements and are more suitable in recent MIMO-OFDM communication standards/drafts than some conventional FFT IP generators.

Licensing Strategies of the New “Intellectual Property Vendors”

This article explores the licensing strategies pursued by firms whose business model is based on developing and licensing out their property. These intellectual property (IP) are not traditional suppliers, since they do not engage in production or commercialization, but specialize solely in the generation of IP. Considerable anecdotal evidence exists about these creative and enterprising firms. However, there has been no systematic investigation of how they use licensing to capture value from their IP. Our research indicates that their licensing strategies can be differentiated along two main dimensions. The first concerns the nature of the contractual relationship: whether the license stands alone or whether it is part of a larger package including other R&D collaborative agreements. The second concerns whether the technologies concerned are of high or low cumulativeness. These dimensions yield a typology outlining four different strategies IP vendors can use.

INNOVATION, PATENTS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Empirical evidence demonstrates the value of intellectual property (IP) in creating economic growth, enhancing productivity and profitability, and increasing enterprise value. Research and Development (R&D) intensive industries, such as the life sciences, where patents are critical to competition, need an enabling environment to institutionalise innovation and IP generation and reward investments in IP. The US has approached IP strategically and created an IP infrastructure. Japan aims to develop into an "IP nation". China has an increasingly well-developed IP system. In contrast, the European Union (EU), which aims to become the world's leading knowledge-based economy, has a fragmented and expensive system of national patents. It lacks an environment which values investment in IP generation and management. Until recently, the EU enjoyed global competitive advantage in the life sciences, but this advantage has been lost. To regain this competitive advantage the EU must invest substantially in R&D, IP generation and commercialisation of these outputs.

Value Appropriation as an Organizational Capability: The Case of Ip Protection Through Patents

We develop and test a theoretical framework that describes the organizational antecedents of value appropriation capabilities in the context of obtaining patent protection. We argue that firm-level differences in how intellectual property (IP) protection and IP generation activities are co-ordinated underlie differences in the ability to obtain rapid patent protection. Using a unique dataset that combines survey and patent (application) data, and employing advanced estimation methodology we show that firm level effects on the likelihood of obtaining a fast patent grant are significantly related to the patterns of specialization and co-ordination across functional areas such as R&D, business development and law that underlie IP generation and protection

Managing intellectual property in R&D alliances

This paper deals with the management of Intellectual Property (IP) in R&D alliances, with a focus on two key IP types – patents and trade secrets. Since IP is both inputs to and outputs of R&D alliances, the key is to simultaneously achieve two objectives – IP protection and IP generation. As research inputs, IP could be devalued by partners' opportunistic learning. Thus, IP needs to be carefully selected and protected through mechanisms such as equity arrangement, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements, and monitoring and auditing. Meanwhile, the performance of R&D alliances is mostly measured by their IP outputs. Partner firms face new issues, such as IP classification and ownership. They must decide whether to patent or keep their R&D outputs confidential. In making IP ownership decisions, partners need to consider R&D outputs' potential as the firm's core competencies and the risk of patent interference.

An Audit Tool for Intellectual Property Management

Smart State is a Queensland Government initiative that recognises the central role of knowledge-based economic growth. In this context, the management of intellectual property (IP) within Queensland and Australian government research and development agencies has changed dramatically over recent years. Increasing expectations have been placed on utilising public sector IP to both underpin economic development and augment taxes by generating new revenues. Public sector research and development (R&D) management has come under greater scrutiny to commercialise and/or corporatise their activities. In a study of IP management issues in the Queensland Public Sector we developed a framework to facilitate a holistic audit of IP management in government agencies. In this paper we describe this framework as it pertains to one large public sector Agriculture R&D Agency, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI). The four overlapping domains of the framework are: IP Generation; IP Rights; IP Uptake; and Corporate IP Support. The audit within QDPI, conducted in 2000 near the outset of Smart State, highlighted some well developed IP management practices within QDPI's traditional areas of focus of innovation (IP Generation) and IP ownership and licensing (IP Rights). However, further management practice developments are required to improve the domains of IP Uptake and Corporate IP Support.

Managing intellectual property in the public sector

SummaryThe management of intellectual property (IP) within Australian government research and development agencies has changed dramatically over recent years. Increasing expectations have been placed on utilising public sector IP to both underpin economic development and augment taxes by generating new revenues. And public sector R&D management has come under greater scrutiny to commercialise and/or corporatise their activities. In a study of IP management issues in The Queensland Public Sector we developed a framework to facilitate a holistic audit of IP management in government agencies. In this paper we describe this framework as it pertains to one large public sector Agriculture R&D Agency, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI). The four overlapping domains of the framework are: IP Generation; IP Rights; IP Uptake and Corporate Support. The audit within QDPI highlighted some well developed IP management practices within QDPI’s traditional focus of innovation (IP Generation) and IP ownership and licensing (IP Rights). However, further management practice developments are required to improve the domains of IP Uptake and Corporate IP Support.