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🎯 IP Management Pulse #61
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Your inbox-insider from Prof. Wurzer every two weeks
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In corporate IP management, two types of developments are currently shaping strategic decision-making: increasing systemic uncertainty on the one hand, and long-term technological shifts on the other.
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Software is turning MedTech into connected, data-driven health systems, while GreenTech requires early IP choices for scalable and regulated markets. At the same time, AI-based IP tools are changing portfolio analysis, valuation, and due diligence. For C-level communication, IP must therefore be framed as a strategic management tool for risk, investment, differentiation, and growth.
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The themes covered in this issue are not selected editorially. They are derived from the Open Foresight Board (OFB) Trend Radar and from ongoing discussions within the Open Foresight Board, where in-house IP experts continuously exchange perspectives on emerging developments and their implications for corporate IP management.
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The Open Foresight Board is part of the Open Foresight Program and brings together in-house IP experts to identify, discuss, and prioritise emerging developments in corporate IP management.
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This issue presents selected signals that make these developments visible in practice — not as isolated news, but as indicators of broader shifts that require strategic attention. Our aim is to provide orientation by connecting current events with the underlying changes they represent. Here are the hot topics from 7th of May 2026 - 20th of May 2026:
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NEWS
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Mergers in digital MedTech | Tropical GreenTech | AI tools for IP acquisition support | Patent valuation for decision-making
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DEEP DIVES
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Why Positioning Is Also a Form of Self-Leadership | Building an Investment-Ready Biotech Startup – Strategic IP, Corporate Governance, and Internationalization
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IP MANAGEMENT LEARNINGS
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Fractus and the Strategic Power of a Licensing Ready Patent Portfolio
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🤗 🍵 I wish you an exciting and informative read. I look forward to your comments and our exchange on LinkedIn.
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Software in digital MedTech
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that digital MedTech is increasingly becoming a strategic IP management topic for established healthcare and medical device companies.
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For many MedTech companies, digitalization is still primarily seen as an extension of existing product lines. Software, AI, data analytics, connectivity and digital services are added to strengthen established devices, improve usability, support clinical workflows or create new service models around existing hardware.
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At the same time, companies that want to move faster face a different strategic question. Instead of building all digital capabilities internally, they may acquire specialized software companies with mature technologies, data assets and patent portfolios. In this context, IP becomes an important due diligence factor, because the value of a digital MedTech acquisition often depends on whether the software-based innovation can be protected, scaled and integrated into a broader healthcare ecosystem.
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Mergers in digital MedTech
Currently, the big MedTech companies are at a crossroads. While they are actively developing digital solutions to enhance their long-running product lines themselves, the purchase of dedicated digital solutions from specialized software companies may be a quicker and safer, but also more expensive alternative. An example for such a purchase is the acquisition of the AI startup PathAI by Roche for potentially more than a billion $. This shows the importance of digital technology in MedTech and the relevance of patent portfolios as a foundation for those mergers.
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What IP experts can learn from it
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For IP experts, mergers in digital MedTech show how IP strategy is moving beyond classical device protection. When software, AI models, training data, diagnostics, connectivity and clinical workflow integration become acquisition drivers, patent portfolios must demonstrate more than technical ownership. They must show how the acquired technology can create defensible market positions.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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Software Patents in MedTech on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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GreenTech
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that GreenTech is no longer only a global sustainability topic, but increasingly a question of regional adaptation and market-specific IP positioning.
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For many companies, green technologies are still viewed through the lens of large global markets: renewable energy, battery systems, carbon reduction, water treatment or sustainable materials. In these fields, patent activity is often dense, competition is international, and freedom-to-operate risks can become significant early on.
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At the same time, regional GreenTech applications open a different perspective. In tropical climates, technologies must often solve highly specific problems related to heat, humidity, monsoon conditions, soil degradation, crop protection, decentralized energy supply or water management. These niches may be commercially smaller than global platform markets, but they can offer more accessible patent landscapes and clearer opportunities for targeted exclusivity.
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Tropical GreenTech
Green technologies are booming worldwide, but especially in Asia high patent activity indicates that practical applications for the market are developed at high speed. This activity is often linked to the world market, but local developers also have the opportunity to build and sell technologies, which fill niche markets. Such examples are green technologies designed for tropical climates and agriculture. The comparably empty patent landscapes may allow for considerable exclusivity.
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What IP experts can learn from it
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For IP experts, Tropical GreenTech illustrates how patent strategy can create value beyond the most crowded sustainability fields. When companies adapt green technologies to specific climatic, agricultural or infrastructural conditions, the relevant IP question is not only whether the basic technology is known, but whether its local implementation creates a protectable technical contribution. The strategic task is therefore to identify where regional constraints produce differentiated solutions.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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Green Technologies and Patents on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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AI-based IP tools
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that IP transactions are becoming increasingly data-intensive. As patent portfolios grow larger and transaction values increase, traditional due diligence approaches are reaching practical limits.
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For many companies, IP due diligence is still treated as a largely manual expert process. Patent attorneys, lawyers and technical specialists review ownership, validity, scope, relevance, risks and strategic fit. This remains essential, but it can become slow and expensive when hundreds or thousands of assets must be assessed under transaction pressure.
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At the same time, AI-based tools are changing the practical feasibility of portfolio analysis. They can help structure large patent datasets, identify relevant clusters, detect inconsistencies, compare claims with products or markets, and prioritize the assets that require deeper expert review. This does not replace legal and technical judgment, but it can make due diligence more scalable, faster and risk-oriented.
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AI tools for IP acquisition support
Due diligence is a major part of any IP transaction, but especially when portfolios are big and prices are high, reducing any avoidable risks in the deal is crucial. On the other hand, the costs and time needed to analyze big patent portfolios can be enormous. This led to the development of novel AI-based tools to support IP experts in conducting due diligence. A current example for this is Limestone.
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What IP experts can learn from it
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For IP experts, AI tools for IP acquisition support illustrate how due diligence is moving from document review towards decision-oriented portfolio intelligence. In high-value transactions, the key question is not only whether a patent portfolio exists, but whether it actually supports the commercial logic of the deal. AI-supported due diligence shows that the future role of IP experts is not reduced by automation. It becomes more strategic.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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Streamlining patent drafting on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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IP for C-level communication
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that patent valuation is becoming a central issue for corporate IP management. As IP budgets come under pressure, decision-makers increasingly need more transparent ways to understand whether patents justify their costs.
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For many companies, patents are still managed as legal or technical assets. They are filed, maintained, defended or abandoned based on expert judgment, portfolio logic and strategic expectations. However, this often leaves management with limited visibility on the economic contribution of individual patents or patent families.
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At the same time, the demand for financial clarity is growing. If patents compete with other investments, they need to be translated into decision-relevant terms. This means attaching not only costs, but also expected value, risk reduction, exclusivity potential, licensing relevance, transaction value or strategic option value to IP assets. Digital tools may help make these assessments more structured, comparable and usable for budget and investment decisions.
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Patent valuation for decision-making
Decision-makers love predictability and planability of costs and revenues. But to be able to decide whether an investment into a patent is worth it or whether a higher IP budget is justified, decision-makers need to have both a price tag and a value attached to every IP asset. The determination of this value can be quite tricky, but also in this area new digital tools are being developed right now, e.g. at the EPO's CodeFest 2026.
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What IP experts can learn from it
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For IP experts, patent valuation for decision-making illustrates how IP management is moving closer to corporate finance and strategic controlling. A patent portfolio cannot only be explained by technical relevance or legal strength. It must increasingly be connected to business scenarios that decision-makers can compare it with other investments. Patent valuation shows that IP experts need to make the economic logic of patents more visible.
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Resources on the IPBA Connect platform
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IP Benchmarking as C-Level Communication Topic on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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In the resources of the Open Foresight Program, in-house IP experts find structured insights and practitioner-driven analyses developed with and by the OFB members, highlighting emerging trends, strategic signals, and real-world implications for corporate IP management that can be translated into actionable guidance for their own organisations.
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The Trend Radar of the Open Foresight Program is a structured foresight tool that identifies and visualizes emerging developments shaping corporate IP management. It is created as a result of a study among in-house IP experts, where researchers systematically collect feedback, weight its relevance, and synthesize it into key trend areas.
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Its purpose is not prediction, but orientation: helping organizations understand complex changes, prioritize what matters, and align IP strategies with evolving technological, geopolitical, and business environments. By translating diverse insights into a clear framework, the Trend Radar enables more informed, forward-looking decision-making in corporate IP management.
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Visible Council - the IP Expert Branding Column
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Why Positioning Is Also a Form of Self-Leadership
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By columnist Giulia Donato, Branding & Communication Consultant at people and brand strategies
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The article explains that positioning for IP experts is not merely about visibility, LinkedIn presence, or external communication. It is a form of self-leadership because it requires experts to decide what kind of work they want to be known for, which clients they want to attract, and which conversations they want to shape. Strong positioning creates clarity, boundaries, and consistency over time. It helps experts avoid being reduced to execution or defined only by past client requests. For IP experts who want to move upstream and join strategic business conversations, positioning becomes a way to lead how their expertise is understood.
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My Favorite from the 📝IP Business Academy Blog
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Building an Investment-Ready Biotech Startup – Strategic IP, Corporate Governance, and Internationalization
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The article presents Sciphage, a Colombian women-founded biotech startup, as a case study for building investment readiness in deep tech. It argues that biotech startups need more than strong science: they need strategic IP, clear governance, structured collaborations, and international protection pathways. The mentorship process helped reposition IP as a core business asset, align protection with commercialization, improve investor-facing materials, and prepare for future licensing and partnership opportunities. The key message is that IP is not a downstream legal formality in biotech. It is central to valuation, scalability, investor confidence, and the transformation of scientific innovation into a fundable company.
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In the 📑IP Management Letter series, IP experts find case-based narratives that show how strategic IP management works in real companies and industries, with practical insights they can directly apply to their own portfolios and client work.
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Fractus and the Strategic Power of a Licensing Ready Patent Portfolio
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Fractus shows how a deep tech startup can turn patents from defensive protection into a licensing ready business asset. By retaining ownership, drafting enforceable claims and protecting a recurring industry need, its portfolio enabled licensing, enforcement and reinvestment. The case demonstrates that strong IP management creates strategic business model optionality.
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