Intellectual property may not be glamorous, but it’s essential to future business success. Professor Alberto Galasso explains how the right IP strategy can drive growth — or hold your business back— on the latest Rotman Executive Summary.

Show notes: 

[0:00 ] There are a lot of factors that go into whether a company is innovative or not, so  much so that Professor Alberto Galasso wrote a book on the topic. 

[1:50 ] But he warns that people often overlook the importance of IP to the innovation process. 

[2:25 ] Let’s define IP, copyright and patents. 

[3:52 ] The importance and value of IP has ballooned over the past 20 years. 

[4:48 ] Today, it’s something companies big and small are increasingly reliant on.

[6:06 ] How often do patent applications succeed? How often do they fail? 

[6:58 ] To get your IP and innovation strategy right, you have to know the overall goal of your organization, and you should think about it early and often. 

[8:44 ] Is IP protection even the right approach? Or should you consider trade secrets? What are the trade-offs?

[10:59 ] How can you use IP data to boost innovation? 

[12:31 ] And how can you use IP protection like patent filings to incentivize workers? 

[13:41 ] What is absorptive capacity, and how does IP protection allow organizations to tap into this critical element of innovation? 

[15:18 ] “So from that perspective, it is a crucial asset to this intellectual property to protect the area that are more valuable of your company, but also to share technology and access technology with other firms for which you want to collaborate.”