Big Data Patent Informatics for Strategic Decision Making

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Big data is increasingly available in all areas of manufacturing and operations. Data as such presents value for enabling a competitive, data-driven economy (EPSRC's Delivery Plan 2016 "Connectedness"), which is at the heart of the Internet of things and Industry 4.0. Increased data availability presents potential value for better decision making and strategy development, to introduce the next generation of innovative and disruptive technologies and drive business innovation through digital transformation (EPSRC's Area of "Connected Nation"). Over the last two decades, there has been a large development in the field of IP analytics. With the digitization of patent data, the world's largest repository of technical information has become accessible for rapidly decreasing costs. Several analytical techniques for analysing this data have been developed (e.g. citation networks, landscape maps and recently semantic analyses). Integrating IP data from different sources, obviously provides more reliable insights, while democratizing IP data making it accessible to a broader range of stakeholder, such as start-ups, SMEs, university technology transfer offices, but also individual researchers. While IP data is abundantly available and tools have been developed to run the analytics, for many manufacturing firms it still remains a problem how they can create value from IP data (Cambridge Big Data Initiative - "Making Big Data Work" theme). Firms struggle to decide which tools and techniques to use for supporting which decisions in the different stages of technology and innovation development projects. This project aims to contribute to solving this problem: How can UK manufacturing firms better create value from IP data, and help them in making decisions about emerging technologies? The research project contributes to solving this problem in three ways:1. Firstly, we will develop a framework that helps manufacturing firms to understand how they can benefit from IP data based decision making in innovation and technology development projects (EPSRC's Area of "Manufacturing the Future").2. Secondly, we will provide guidance on how manufacturing firms can integrate the use of IP data in the decision making process of innovation and technology development projects (EPSRC's Delivery Plan 2016 of "Productivity", for the successful development of world-leading technology based processes on the discovery and innovation). Through the digital transformation (use of IP analytics), to guide the decision making process for development of disruptive technologies, quantifying uncertainty and value creation/ generation (EPSRC's Area of "Productive Nation", and specifically "data driven economy").3. Thirdly, we will develop a decision making framework that links the decision needs of manufacturing firms with the availability of IP data, analytical techniques, indicators and tools (EPSRC's Delivery Plan 2016 of "Resilience"). The project aims at helping manufacturing firms to increase their knowledge on IP informatics, and feed IP data into decision making processes along technology and innovation project for increased value creation and capture. The project will deliver both academic and practical outcomes. With conference and journals publications (e.g. in R&D Management, Creativity and Innovation Management, World Patent Information) the project will contribute to both the discussion on effective decision making in technology and innovation development projects and the exploration of using IP analytics to help shape the firm landscape. The project will further create industrial impact by helping manufacturing firms to use IP data, contributing to patent analytics by higher R&D productivity and data-driven economical decisions, for better strategic decision making in technology and innovation development projects. This project will help UK based firms to strengthen their IP management and IP analytics capabilities, hence to improve p