|
|
🎯 IP Management Pulse #63
|
Your inbox-insider from Prof. Wurzer every two weeks
|
|
|
|
|
In corporate IP management, two developments are currently reshaping strategic decision-making: the growing integration of digital technologies into physical products and processes, and the increasing importance of intellectual property for scaling innovation.
|
|
Digital twins are extending from individual machines to entire factories, while artificial-intelligence-based patent drafting tools are moving parts of the patent process closer to inventors. At the same time, MedTech companies are developing connected platforms that combine devices, software, data and services, and GreenTech ventures are using patents to strengthen their position in private and public funding processes.
|
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.
|
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.
|
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 4th of June 2026 - 17th of June 2026:
|
|
|
|
NEWS
|
Digital Twins of Factories | Patent drafting software for inventors | From MedTech devices to platforms | Patents in GreenTech funding
|
|
|
|
RESOURCES
|
OFB Fireside Chat about "AI in IP Management"
|
|
|
|
DEEP DIVES
|
Why IP Needs a New Narrative Role Inside the Business | Who Controls the Critical Layer in Remote Patient Monitoring? | Intellectual property models in GreenTech
|
|
|
|
IP MANAGEMENT LEARNINGS
|
When Music Meets Ice: Copyright Complexity in Olympic Figure Skating
|
|
|
|
|
|
🤗 🍵 I wish you an exciting and informative read. I look forward to your comments and our exchange on LinkedIn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Industrial Internet of Things
|
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that digital twins are evolving from virtual representations of individual products or machines into strategic models of entire production environments.
|
For many industrial companies, digital twins initially served clearly defined engineering purposes. They could represent a machine, simulate its behaviour or support predictive maintenance. As more production assets become connected, however, companies can create digital counterparts of complete production lines, factory floors and even networks of factories.
|
These models combine machine data, process parameters, software, artificial intelligence and operational knowledge. They can help companies simulate changes before implementing them physically, identify potential failures, optimise production processes and support employees in making better operational decisions. The value of the digital twin therefore increasingly lies not only in the simulated technology, but also in the accumulated data and manufacturing knowledge represented within it.
|
Digital Twins of Factories
The concept of the Digital Twin becomes more and more important in industrial settings and now not only individual machines, but whole factory floors or factories are getting a digital counterpart. A current example can be seen in the AI-integrated digital twins employed by Unilever with assistance from Accenture. Their digital replicas are a tool to fulfil e.g. predictive maintenance tasks or improve the effectiveness and efficiency of workers.
|
What IP experts can learn from it
|
For IP experts, digital twins illustrate how industrial intellectual property is expanding beyond the protection of individual machines and components. The relevant question is no longer only whether a physical production technology can be patented, but how the complete interaction between machinery, software, artificial intelligence, data and manufacturing processes should be protected.
|
|
|
|
Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
|
|
|
|
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) on the 🔎 IP Management Glossary
|
|
|
|
|
|
AI in IP Management
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that artificial intelligence is changing not only how intellectual property professionals work, but also when and how inventors become involved in the patent drafting process.
|
Most intellectual property management software has traditionally been designed for patent attorneys, intellectual property departments or other professionals with specialist knowledge. These tools support activities such as portfolio administration, prior-art searching, patent monitoring, valuation and the preparation of patent applications.
|
A new generation of software is taking a different approach. Instead of merely assisting intellectual property experts, these platforms allow inventors and research and development teams to describe an invention, upload technical documents and generate an initial patent draft themselves. This can move parts of the drafting process closer to the people who understand the technology and reduce the time between identifying an invention and documenting it in a structured form.
|
Patent drafting software for inventors
New IP management software is entering the market nearly every day. While most of it is expert software aimed at IP professionals or at least persons responsible for IP in a company, some tools are created explicitly for the layman. One example are patent drafting tools, which are targeted at inventors. The importance of such tools is shown by the huge amounts of funding their developers receive, e.g. the $5.5 million received by tech startup Fearn.
|
What IP experts can learn from it
|
For intellectual property experts, inventor-facing drafting tools illustrate how the division of work within the patent process may change. Inventors may increasingly arrive with structured invention disclosures or complete preliminary drafts instead of unstructured descriptions of their ideas. The role of the patent professional therefore shifts further from producing text toward evaluating scope, identifying omissions and aligning the application with the company’s commercial objectives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
|
|
|
|
AI as a Value Driver for IP Law Firms: Key Insights from the Live Interview with Johannes Ernicke on the 📝IP business academy blog
|
|
|
|
|
|
MedTech
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that medical technology companies are increasingly moving beyond individual devices toward connected platforms that combine measurement, software, data interpretation and personalised services.
|
Traditionally, many medical technology business models centred on the development and sale of a specific diagnostic, monitoring or therapeutic device. The intellectual property strategy consequently focused primarily on protecting the physical product, its technical components and the methods through which it performed its medical function.
|
Connected healthcare changes this logic. A sensor may generate clinically or personally relevant data, but much of the value is created only when this data is interpreted, combined with other information and translated into recommendations or behavioural support. The competitive offering therefore expands from a device into an ecosystem of hardware, software, data and services.
|
From MedTech devices to platforms
Developers of MedTech devices are increasingly switching from producing individual devices to offering connected platform solutions. A current example is continuous glucose monitor producer Dexcom, which offers to purchase Nutrisense for its capabilities in the area of individualized dietary recommendations. Those capabilities enable the company to become more of a digital platform, instead of just producing measurement infrastructure.
|
What IP experts can learn from it
|
For IP experts, the transition from medical devices to platforms expands the relevant intellectual property landscape. Protecting the sensor or measurement technology alone may no longer secure the complete competitive advantage. Software functions, data-processing methods, recommendation systems, interfaces, databases and confidential analytical models can become equally important.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
|
|
|
|
The Structural Shift of IP in MedTech
on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
GreenTech
Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that patents can play an important role in connecting GreenTech innovation with the private and public capital required for industrial implementation.
|
Many GreenTech ventures are built around technically complex solutions that require substantial investment before they can reach commercial scale. Pilot facilities, specialised machinery, regulatory approvals and industrial production capacity may have to be financed long before the business generates stable revenues.
|
This creates a particular challenge for investors and public funding institutions. They must assess not only whether a technology can contribute to environmental objectives, but also whether the company behind it can establish a defensible market position. Patents can support this assessment by documenting technical differentiation and creating legally protectable assets around the underlying process, product or component.
|
Patents in GreenTech funding
The growth of new industries depends a lot on the availability of private and public funding opportunities. In both cases the presence of patents indicates to investors and public funding bodies that the venture is serious about its activities and able to defend them in the market. A current GreenTech example for this is the recycling startup GR3N, which owns patents for its novel recycling process and its recycling machinery.
|
What IP experts can learn from it
|
For IP experts, GreenTech funding demonstrates that patents can serve several functions at the same time. They may restrict imitation, protect licensing opportunities and provide evidence that a venture has converted research and development results into identifiable proprietary assets. This can strengthen the company’s position during investment negotiations and public funding assessments.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources on the IPBA Connect platform
|
|
|
|
IP in Green Tech: From Protecting Inventions to Controlling Sustainable Innovation on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
OFB Fireside Chat about "AI in IP Management"
|
|
|
Artificial intelligence is becoming the major transformation topic in intellectual property management. Yet the central question is no longer whether AI tools will be used, but how they must evolve to create measurable value for industry and professional services.
|
In this Open Foresight Board Fireside Chat, Johannes Ernicke and Hannes Burger will discuss what companies expect from the intellectual property system and why the market needs more capable, specialized and business-oriented AI solutions. Building on the results of the Open Foresight Board study, the conversation will explore how industry demand can become a mandate for technology providers, patent departments and patent law firms.
|
|
The discussion will also examine why change requires dialogue with chief technology officers and other decision-makers responsible for budgets, structures and innovation priorities. How can IP professionals move beyond operational efficiency and use AI to challenge established practices, strengthen the strategic relevance of IP and develop services that better reflect industry needs?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Visible Council - the IP Expert Branding Column
|
|
|
|
|
Why IP Needs a New Narrative Role Inside the Business
|
|
By columnist Giulia Donato, Branding & Communication Consultant at people and brand strategies
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Intellectual property experts possess insights into market access, competitive advantage and product strategy, yet businesses perceive IP as protection, cost and legal risk. This narrative frame develops through repeated interactions in which IP appears only when problems arise or decisions have already been made. Individual communication improvements help, but lasting change requires consistent organizational positioning. IP should be understood as a strategic capability that shapes what companies build, protect, scale and monetize. The most influential IP professionals act as strategic interpreters, translating technical and legal expertise into business decisions and becoming associated with better outcomes, not merely necessary processes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
My Favorite from the 📝IP Business Academy Blog
|
|
|
|
|
Who Controls the Critical Layer in Remote Patient Monitoring?
|
|
With Jörg Smolinski, Partner at Kailuweit & Uhlemann Patentanwälte mbB
|
|
|
|
|
Remote patient monitoring systems create value not through wearable devices alone, but through the transformation of physiological data into clinically meaningful action. The case study examines a MedTech company combining sensors, an app, cloud-based signal processing and clinician dashboards. Its challenge is identifying the primary intellectual property control point before scaling. Protection may be needed around device architecture, signal processing, workflow integration, data pathways or service models. Choosing the wrong layer leaves competitors room to design around hardware or capture clinical relationships. Choosing the right one strengthens investment readiness, licensing power, freedom to operate and positioning in connected healthcare markets.
|
|
|
|
|
|
My Favorite from the 🎧Podcast IP Management Voice
|
|
|
|
|
Intellectual property models in GreenTech
|
|
With Pratheeba Vimalnath, Director of Education at the University of Exeter Business School, and Frank Tietze, Professor of Innovation Engineering at the University of Cambridge
|
|
|
|
|
GreenTech innovation requires intellectual property strategies that evolve across the technology lifecycle. Based on a publication about 57 European Inventor Award cases, the podcast episode shows that innovators usually begin with closed models, using patents and trade secrets to secure investment, define ownership and enable collaboration. During commercialization, universities and startups often shift toward exclusive licensing because they lack manufacturing capacity. In the diffusion phase, non-exclusive licensing becomes more important for global scaling. Fully open models remain rare because patents alone do not transfer the tacit knowledge needed for implementation. Effective GreenTech strategy therefore balances control, collaboration, licensing, speed and long-term value capture successfully.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
When Music Meets Ice: Copyright Complexity in Olympic Figure Skating
|
|
|
|
Olympic figure skaters face a copyright landscape when selecting music. Multiple licences may be required for compositions, recordings, synchronization and worldwide broadcasting, often from fragmented rights holders. Time pressure and territorial differences increase risk. Centralized licensing, collecting societies, royalty-free music and commissioned works can reduce complexity and protect performance preparation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
