ii-pic 2017: decoding the gray shades of patent white space analysis

M A N I S H S I N H AC H I E F T E C H N O L O G Y O F F I C E R

G R I D L O G I C S

M A N I S H @ G R I D L O G I C S . C O M

I I - P I C - B E N G A L U R U - N O V 2 0 1 7

Decoding the Gray Shades of Patent White Space Analysis

About Gridlogics

▪ Founded in 2004 and having more than 12 years of experience in Intellectual Property Software Solutions

▪ Strong Focus on R&D and Rapid/Continuous product enhancements that solve greater challenges and needs of IP professionals

▪ Launched Patent iNSIGHT Pro in Jan 2006 and gained quick market acceptance to achieve more than 400 users across 100+organisations globally

▪ PatSeer Global Patent Database crossed 2200+ users in 3 years with more than 300 Professional Searchers and 800 Examiners.

▪ PatSeer Pro launched in 2016 and PatSeer 360° scheduled in 2017

Patent Professional

Patent/Scientific Information Department

Patent Analyst / Technology

Manager

Licensing Professional / IP

Manager

White-spaces are gaps in a technology landscape that have potential for attaining exclusivity

….No clear picture

So……Is this it ?

Or this ?

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Total 687 79 30 130 126 134 140 64 59 31 143 48 253 53 38 53 15 22 35 19 11 77 6

Paper 76 9 5 13 15 27 16 21 8 16 25 8 23 18 11 5 2 6 7 2 4 2

Elastomers 38 7 4 9 11 12 4 4 6 1 7 4 19 3 1 2 1 5

Plastic 120 9 8 11 30 27 36 16 11 5 23 13 44 11 3 6 5 4 7 6 3 20 1

Polycarbonate 70 8 5 16 13 18 23 19 9 10 27 8 32 14 5 14 2 3 1 3 6 2

Polyimide 27 3 3 16 4 8 7 1 3 4 2 10 3 4 4 1 1 1 2

Silver 35 10 3 15 8 13 11 5 3 1 11 6 6 8 2 1 2 1 1 1

Titanium 70 15 4 10 15 14 21 8 6 3 15 7 27 11 6 11 2 3 1 1 13 1

Wax 59 10 4 3 11 6 16 3 11 1 14 6 37 3 8 2 3 2 3 1 25 1

Rubber 81 11 4 22 21 29 19 12 11 4 14 3 21 4 4 4 2 5 2 3 2

Aluminium 85 14 7 20 21 19 33 16 4 8 26 13 29 19 1 19 2 2 2 2 3 4 3

Nickel 64 9 10 13 15 9 18 7 3 1 17 1 15 13 15 1 5 1 2 6

Ceramic 152 10 5 15 33 22 59 18 14 10 35 18 91 18 14 16 4 2 9 1 38 3

ABS Plastic 35 4 2 10 6 5 16 13 5 9 18 8 17 10 1 10 1 3 2

Alkyd 7 2 1 2 1 3 4 3 4 1 2 3 2 2 1 2

Epoxy 88 8 5 43 12 18 11 5 9 3 22 5 17 4 3 7 2 2 6 1 1 3 1

Polyethylene Terephthalate 101 10 3 14 15 40 20 8 11 4 21 10 45 6 9 4 6 6 1 1 2 9 1

Polypropylene 41 5 2 5 8 17 9 2 8 1 14 1 21 3 4 2 3 3 1 4

Polyvinyl Chloride 41 5 3 7 7 18 10 4 6 2 11 5 13 3 2 3 3 2 2 1

Stainless Steel 27 7 2 3 5 3 8 3 1 1 2 2 10 1 1 1 1 6

Methacrylic 20 5 1 6 4 5 5 3 5 7 1 1 2 1 2

Carbon Fiber 29 9 2 3 5 14 6 4 3 9 2 8 9 7 2 2

Polyethylene 63 15 1 6 8 16 10 1 10 2 14 3 29 3 6 2 2 2 6 1 1 7 1

RTV Silicon 2 2 2 2

Thermoplastic 51 7 4 11 11 16 10 5 3 2 11 5 20 3 2 10 2 6 2 1 2 1

Polyamide 55 10 2 8 11 17 19 3 9 3 17 4 23 6 4 5 6 4 3 1 5 1

Phenolic 45 8 2 22 6 18 8 3 5 4 6 4 2 1 2 2 3 1

Palladium 18 3 10 3 7 5 2 1 4 3 1 3 1 1 1

Polylactic Acid 15 2 1 4 2 2 2 11 1 7 1 2

Melamine 8 1 1 3 1 3 4 2 3 2 3 2 2 1 2

Polyvinyl Acetate 19 3 2 3 4 6 3 2 7 6 2 14 3 3 1 1 3

Steel 23 7 2 3 9 5 10 1 1 7 1 5 4 3 1 4 1 2 1

• Technology Landscape

• Material/Compounds/Ingredients Landscape

• Applications/Markets Landscape

• IPC/CPC Landscape

• Technology vs. Materials

• Technology vs. Markets

Where to find the Gap ?

Something else - Keywords ? Clusters ?

Are you jumping into the first haystack you see ?

Should you first focus on finding the right haystack ?

Finding the Right Haystack

• What are the different Market areas and what are the top challenges in the market

• What are the current products or services that address the market

• What are the company Strengths ?• What technologies are our strengths • What technologies are competitor strengths• Current Markets Future Markets

Should be a Top Down Approach…

1. Cost of Equipment and Manufacturing2. Limited Choice of Materials Available3. Ensuring product Quality and Reliability

1. Surface finish2. Accuracy of parts

4. Going from basic shapes to Complex Parts 5. Limited Design Tools6. Lack of formal standards7. Difficulty in scaling up production from prototype8. Limited recyclability

Top 3D Printing Challenges

Problem vs. Solution Mapping

Challenge 1(Surface Finish)

Challenge 2(…)

Challenge 3(…)

Technology 1 X

Technology 2 X

Technology 3

Material 1

Material 2 X

Material 3 X X

Market 1 X

Market 2

Market 3 X

3D Printing Sample Categorization

By Technologies By Materials By Applications• Ballistic Layer Manufacturing• Cladding• Computer Numerical Control

(CNC)• Contour Crafting• Digital Light Processing• Direct Laser Forming• Direct Manufacturing• Direct Metal Deposition• Direct Metal Laser Sintering• Direct Shell Production Casting• Electron Beam Melting• Electron Beam Projection

Lithography• Electrophoretic Deposition• Fused Deposition Modeling• Inkjet Deposition• Laminated Object Manufacturing• Laser Ablation• Laser Engineered Net Shaping• Laser Metal Forming• Laser Powder Forming• LaserCusing• Microfabrication• Multi-Jet Modeling• …

• ABS Plastic• Alkyd• Aluminum• Carbon Fiber• Ceramic• Clay• Elastomers• Epoxy• Fiberglass• Furan• High-density Polyethylene• Melamine• Methacrylic• Nickel• Nylon• PEEK• Palladium• Paper• Phenolic• Photopolymers• Plastic• Poly paraphenylene

terephthalamide• …

• Aerospace• Aircraft• Automobiles• Clothing• Construction• Defense• Food Industry• Furniture• Jewellery• Mechanical• Medical• PCB• Phones• Prosthesis• Robotics• Scaffolding• Shoes• Television• Tissue Engineering• Tooling• Toys• Watches

Categorization by Query

Application Area Search Query Results

Aerospace (FT) contains (aerospace* or aeronautic* or rocket* or spacecraft*) 93

Aircraft (FT) contains (aircraft* or aviation* or helicopter* or "fighter jet" or helicopter* or aeroplane* or airplane*)

92

Automobiles (FT) contains (automotive* or car or cars or (auto* w2 part*) or vehicle* or automobile* or motorcar* or autocar* or "steering wheel*" or pedals)

264

Clothing (FT) contains (cloth* or dress or apparel* or fabric or fabrics or shirt* or t-shirt* or garment*)

234

Construction (FT) contains ("contour craft*" or "d shape" or D-Shape or "building* print*" or roof* or Diorama or walling or flooring)

16

Technologies Search Query Results

Ballistic Particle Manufacturing

(FT) contains ((ballistic* w2 manufactur*) or BPM) 25

Cladding (FT) contains (cladding or ((roll or explosive) w2 weld*)) 53

Computer Numerical Control (CNC)

(FT) contains ((computer* w1 control*) or CNC) 270

Contour Crafting (FT) contains (contour* w3 craft*) 2

Digital Light Processing

(FT) contains ((((digital* or direct*) w2 light*) w3 process*) or DLP) 25

Manual Categorization

Matrix based Analysis over Categories

X vs. Y Matrix ( Materials vs. Technology)

Example Gap

Polyutherane not being used in 3d printed shoes or shoe-soles ?

*Data as of April 2016

May 18 2017 - If the Shoe Fits: 3D Printing and the Future of Manufacturing Footwear https://3dprint.com/174833/3d-printing-future-of-footwear/

June 6, 2017 - Prodways Introduces New 3D Printed Footwear Materials and Solutions, Collaborates with Nike https://3dprint.com/177120/prodways-3d-printed-footwear/

Charts for Workshops and discussions with R&D and other stakeholders

• Always correlate all findings with:• Corporate strategy and strengths• Customer Trends (Today and Future)

• Every potential White-space (that meets the problem vs. Solution constraints) should be subject to a targeted patent search before any further investments in time or resources

• Some other Examples :• Mobile Technology • Digital Camera

Afterthoughts

Thank you . Questions ?