Enhancing technological capacity through information exploitation with patents

Patent information is the largest and richest source of technology and technical data available today. Exploiting patent information is not only beneficial for inventors in understanding technology-related issues, but also supports enterprises in business strategies and technology commercialization. Specifically:

– Access to the latest technology information sources worldwide. Patents contain the latest and most detailed technology information. The nature of the patent is the principle of trade-off, the inventor will disclose the technical solution in detail so that the average technical person in the same field can understand the invention, in return, the inventor Inventions will be granted exclusive rights to use the invention for a certain period of time.

– Patent information is useful for innovation activities of enterprises. Enterprises can orient an effective R&D strategy by assessing R&D trends of technology in the same field. Scientists, engineers can monitor, analyze, evaluate technology level, research worldwide in the area of interest; at the same time, find solutions to research technologies and generate new ideas.

– Determine the patentability of the inventor’s invention.

– Avoid infringing the patents being protected. Inventors and businesses will be aware of technical solutions that are protected in other enterprises’ patents and avoid using patented technology.

– Exploiting technology from patents that are not protected in a specific country. Enterprises can exploit foreign inventions that are not protected or have expired in Vietnam.

– Enterprises can monitor and evaluate technology strategies of competitors through analysis of competitor’s patent filing data; assess market trends in emerging technologies and identify potential partners in technology transfer and cooperation.

With patent search and analysis tools, especially patent mapping/landscape analysis tools, businesses will see the full picture of technology, market and competitors in the same area. field. Patent mapping is a market analysis technique, a technology based on data analysis of patents. Patent map provides a lot of useful information about both technology and market, thereby, helping enterprises to have the most effective orientation for technology development as well as market expansion. For example, figure 1 shows trends in application and investment in fertilizer technology. The analysis chart shows that 2017 is the year with the highest number of patents filed in the field of fertilizer technology; This also means that the fertilizer market will undergo a drastic change in technology in the coming years.