How to Protect Intellectual Property in Collaborative Innovation
Manufacturing Business Technology magazine’s article on collaborative innovation leads to an obvious question: how do you protect intellectual property when you involve many companies and associations in finding a link between a company with a problem and a company with a solution? Paul Stiros, CEO of NineSigma, a firm that links problems and solutions together, comments on this issue:
“Stiros says the entire process is conducted in such a way that neither party has to fear having intellectual property compromised. “The proposals submitted by solution providers don’t contain the actual solution,” he says. “They only contain the company’s capabilities for addressing the problem. Our client then holds conversations with the solution provider to determine if they can indeed solve the problem. Then they sign confidentiality agreements, and ultimately enter into a contract to have work performed.” “
Fairly simple approach to what could be a big problem. Capability is addressed before two companies attempt to work together. In the case of linking P&G and an agricultural products manufacturer together, the common experience and capability was making small bags, out of the same material, to hold oily substances without leaking. The agricultural firm had solved the problem already. NineSigma helped P&G find them. Then the companies worked out a deal with adequate intellectual property protection.
How do you collaborate with other companies on innovating products and processes? Was intellectual property protection a stumbling block to forming a relationship? Is NineSigma’s approach workable?
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Tags: collaboration, innovation, intellectual property, project-managementRelated Stories
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2 opinions for How to Protect Intellectual Property in Collaborative Innovation
Miranda
May 6, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Thanks for this post. Collaboration and integration with another company can be a big deal. It is important to carefully lay out who owns what. I like the idea of laying out the capacity for fixing the problem, rather than including all the hows and whys.
Bob Turek
May 6, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Miranda- as you know protection of intellectual property is a big deal. I can’t even get many companies to act as references for us because they are worried about secrets getting out- the problem is that these are the type of companies that fail to use one of the best innovation sources around, i.e., other companies who are in different industries. These companies are typically not competitive, and NineSigma has proven that partnerships can be started without divulging any intellectual property. Thanks for commenting- I really appreciated it.
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