13. Intellectual Property Management

Commercialisation has been described as the process of preparing and taking an established product, process or service to market (DITR 2003). The process ends when the product, process or service is finally marketed successfully to the customer. It is typically the costliest part of the innovation process, requires the most entrepreneurial effort and involves the most commercial risk. At the heart of the commercialisation process is the development and economic leverage of IP, which is the ability of creative ideas to be identified and protected for future commercial benefit. In this chapter, we explore the nature of IP and IP rights as well as how such IP can be brought to market via the commercialisation process. The chapter examines the role of intellectual property (IP) in the innovation process including: types of IP, the protection of IP, and how to assess the technical feasibility of an innovation. Also considered is the process of licensing and the valuation of IP in the commercialisation of an innovation.