Tech Commercialisation – Laying the FoundationBy Kho Su Yian & Loh Mee Lan

1. Why Research ?2. Business Databases3. Patent Databases4. Q&A / Feedback

Agenda

Why Research?

• Understanding – Get the macro view of an industry, the overall trends and major events that shape it.

• Viability – Is it realistic to enter a particular market? What are the possible risks and rewards for particular industries (and in particular countries)?

• Context – What are the benchmarks for performance, revenue and other factors for an industry? (E.g. mobile phone market value is $950m, but home insecticides only $20m). Who are the major companies holding the most market share?

Why Research Industries?

Data: Macro to Micro

What is SWOT?

Positive Negative

Inte

rnal

Strengths Weaknesses

Exte

rnal

Opportunities Threats

Feasibility: Technological, Environmental

Desirability:Social,

Legal/Political

Viability: Economic (Industry)

Sweet Spot

Your solutionThe “sweet spot” of innovation is where your solution is at the convergence of Feasibility, Viabilityand Desirability

Source: https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking

Database MatrixDesirability Feasibility Viability

Databases Social Political Technology Environment Economics

ABI/Inform Yes No Yes Limited Yes

BMI Research No Limited Limited Limited Yes

Business Source Premier Yes Limited Limited Yes Yes

Factiva Yes Yes Yes Limited Yes

Frost & Sullivan No No Limited Yes Yes

Gartner No No Yes Yes Yes

Passport Yes Limited No No Yes

Patsnap No No Yes No Yes

Quick Question

•Are you familiar with:• FindMore @NUSL

• Find It! @ NUS Libraries in Databases

• Find It ! @ NUS Libraries in Google Scholar

• Proxy Bookmarklet

• Boolean Logic (And, Or, Not)

Resources

Industry Databases• BMI Research - Provides daily views, reports and strategic content, data and

forecasts on various industries. Also includes a small collection of in-house statistical data (BMI Databases).

• Frost & Sullivan - Has market research on various technical and technology industries. Also provides market drivers and restraints, as well as possible market opportunities.

• Passport - Provides statistics, analysis, reports, surveys and breaking news on consumer product industries, some services, F&B packaging and ingredients. Also contains data and analysis on consumer lifestyles, population trends, and socioeconomic analysis for several countries.

Company Databases• Business Source Premier- Contains company profiles and SWOT

analyses of major companies. USA-centric, so coverage outside of USA is not comprehensive.

• ABI/Inform – Snapshots of various companies, SWOT analyses and some risk analyses. Global coverage is better than BSP, but still not comprehensive.

• Factiva – Company Snapshots and reports, listing of peer companies, breaking news of current events.

• Find out which companies are involved in similar research by looking at patent assignees.

• Searching for patents is also essential to research, as you do not wish to unknowingly infringe on an active patent.

Company Data: Patents

Business Database List

• A lot to take in? Don’t panic, you can read about the databases at your leisure with this handout:

bit.ly/bdb201903• More information on relevant library resources can also be found here:

http://libguides.nus.edu.sg

http://bit.ly/bdb201903

Free (or Almost Free) Resources• Blogs and free reports from major

market research companies, e.g.• Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

• Euromonitor

• Forrester

• Gartner

• McKinsey

• Mintel

• Government websites can offer free statistics and analyses e.g.

• Enterprise Singapore• Export.gov (USA website but with

international data)• National Library Board E-Resources

(some databases have to be accessed from a designated terminal in Lee Kong Chian Reference Library)

http://www.eiu.com/landing/special_reportshttps://blog.euromonitor.com/https://go.forrester.com/blogs/https://www.gartner.com/marketing/insights/research-previewshttps://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insightshttps://www.mintel.com/resourceshttps://www.enterprisesg.gov.sg/https://www.export.gov/welcomehttp://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/main/Browse?browseBy=subject&filter=9

Demo

Library Portal

• Go to www.lib.nus.edu.sg to access the Library Portal

http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/

Tech CommercializationPatents Searching

Loh Mee Lan (Senior Librarian, NUS Libraries)18 Mar 2019

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Patent Searching Introduction to IP & patents

How to read a patent document

How to conduct patent searches in Lens.Org

Introduction to patent analysis Patsnap Insights Patsnap Landscape Maps

Learning Outcomes

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Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP) & Patents

Loh Mee Lan

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Introduction to IP & Patents

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What are the types of IP found in such products?

Trademarks – apple logo, “Iphone”Registered designs – aesthetic appearance (shape of the phone)Layout design of ICsCopyright (embedded operating system and other software)

Patents – Functional features and is one of several forms of intellectual property (IP)

For more information, go to Patent Libguide (FAQs and Articles section).Photo: Pixabay.com

http://www.wipo.int/trademarks/en/http://www.wipo.int/designs/en/http://www.wipo.int/patents/en/topics/integrated_circuits.htmlhttp://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/activities/software.htmlhttp://www.wipo.int/patents/en/http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patents

How to Read a Patent Document

Loh Mee Lan

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HOW to Read a Patent Document

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View this patent (US9315403) in Google Patent

References CitedFind related patents, what improvements have been made

Classification Numbers“Patent classification is a system of sorting inventions and their documents into technical fields covering all areas of technology.”

Source : https://worldwide.espacenet.com/help?locale=en_EP&method=handleHelpTopic&topic=ipc

See also Patsnap Libguide on how to search patent classification (http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ilp/pat/gui/Patsnap_Classification_Search.pdf)

https://patents.google.com/patent/US9315403?oq=US9315403https://worldwide.espacenet.com/help?locale=en_EP&method=handleHelpTopic&topic=ipchttp://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ilp/pat/gui/Patsnap_Classification_Search.pdf

Claims- Defines the legal boundaries of protection- Often provides a clear description of the invention,

process, etc.- Usually starts with phrases like “I claim”, “We claim”,

What is claimed is”, “The invention claimed is”

Independent Claims“Generally an independent claim is one that does not refer to any other

claim. Some independent claims may refer to other claims….”

Dependent Claims“A dependent claim can depend upon one or more independent claims or one or more dependent claims….”

Source: “Independent And Dependent Claims” http://iposinternational.com/guidelines/construing-specification-claims/guide-to-construction/independent-dependent-claims/ (viewed 27 September 2018)

HOW to Read a Patent Document

US 7,074,391

US 8,666,547

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http://iposinternational.com/guidelines/construing-specification-claims/guide-to-construction/independent-dependent-claims/

Suggestions on how to read a patent effectively:

Front page Title, patent type, publication/grant dates Abstracts

Specifications Background of the invention Summary of the invention

Claims

HOW to Read a Patent Document

Patents Libguide : FAQshttp://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patents

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http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patents

Patent Searching

Loh Mee Lan

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Patent Searching - Introduction

5W1H – Searching Patents

Why? Hold exclusive right to use the invention for aperiod of time +

When? Every step of the innovation journey *

Where? Databases & Internet Sources (free and NUS Libraries subscribed) – refer Patent Libguide

What? What are you looking for? Purpose of Your Search?

Who? Need help? ILO? NUS Libraries?

How? How to Read a Patent DocumentHow to Search Patents

+ Source: https://www.ipos.gov.sg/understanding-innovation-ip/patent* Source: https://www.patsnap.com/blog/ip-data-supercharge-rd

https://www.ipos.gov.sg/understanding-innovation-ip/patenthttps://www.patsnap.com/blog/ip-data-supercharge-rdhttp://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patentshttps://enterprise.nus.edu.sg/technology-commercialisationhttps://libportal.nus.edu.sg/frontend/indexhttps://www.ipos.gov.sg/understanding-innovation-ip/patenthttps://www.patsnap.com/blog/ip-data-supercharge-rd

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Patents

Business

StatisticsCurrent Affairs

Non Patent Literature

Resources- Patent Searches- Patent Analysis on Technology, Company, etc.

Information on:- Country- Industry- Company - Consumer

Newspapers, Websites, industry reports, etc.

Information on:- Singapore Stats- Other Stats

Books, Journal Articles, Conference Papers, etc. - Findmore@NUSL- Lens.Org

Resources- Engineering- Medical- Science

Types / Sources of

Information to Check

http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patentshttp://libguides.nus.edu.sg/c.php?g=145559&p=954796http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/findnewspaperhttp://libguides.nus.edu.sg/singaporestatisticshttp://libguides.nus.edu.sg/c.php?g=145718&p=955892http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/findmorehttps://www.lens.org/http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/engineeringhttp://libguides.nus.edu.sg/sb.php?subject_id=32285http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/science

Approaches to Searching

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Scoping Searches e.g. keywords search

- Start broadly…. using Synonyms, Truncations, wildcards variations, - Refine with additional keywords, classification numbers, etc.

Pearl Growing Searches e.g. start from a single document

- Start with a known patent document- Find other patents with patents using

relevant classification numbers, citations analysis, references (including non patent literature), etc.

Classification Search

Quick Comparison of 3 Patent Databases

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Patsnap The Lens Google Patents

Coverage (information from their websites)

Over 130 million patent publications + DocDB (covers nearly 100 jurisdictions)

Over 111 million documents BibliographicDocDB (covers nearly 100 jurisdictions)Full Text and ImagesUS, EP, WIPO PCT, Australia

Over 120 million patent publications from 100+ patent offices

Semantic Search or similar functions

Yes (by publication number or text with at least 2000 characters). Retrieved up to 1000 relevant documents.Document level - “More Like This” Function

No No separate search option

Document level – have “Find Prior Art” or “Similar” Functions

Scholarly Works (foundin patents document) /Non Patent Literature (NPL)

Literature search as separate option at main pageListed but not hyperlinked in patent documents (citations)

Start search either by patents or scholarly works.Scholarly data from PubMed, CrossRef, Microsoft AcademicScholarly works that found in Lens.org are hyperlinked.

Can includes NPL from Google Scholar at searching screenListed but not hyperlinked in patent documents (citations)

Landscape Maps Yes No No

Patent Analysis YesPatsnap - Overview : 7 options e.g. Application Trends, Top Assignee(s) with further subtopicsPatsnap Insights – Company and Technology Dashboards, each with breakdown by subtopics

Yes

Display “Graphical Analysis”: up to 11 options e.g. Top 10 inventors

Yes

Display 3 options: (assignee, inventors, CPCs) e.g. top assignees

Patent Searching – Lens.Org

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What is Lens.Org? (https://www.lens.org/lens/) “The Lens serves global patent and scholarly knowledge as a

public resource to make science- and technology-enabled problem solving more effective, efficient and inclusive”

Free patent database Includes over 111 million documents (bibliographic / full text) Full text documents from US Patents, European Patents, WIPO

Applications, Australian Patents, etc.) and non patent literature (over 195 million scholarly records from PubMed, CrossRef, Microsoft Academic Scholarly)

https://www.lens.org/lens/

Patent Searching – Lens.Org

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https://www.lens.org/

Strengths: Able to find number of cites from patents to scholarly works and vice versa

Lens Video Tutorials (Help Support)

Optional : Sign up for a free Lens.org account (e.g. save records, set alerts)

https://www.lens.org/https://support.lens.org/lens-video-tutorials/

How to Search Lens.Org – Document Search

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• Search A Patent Document

(US9505172) Search Inventor(s)

Identify and search suitable classification codes

Find Citations (Scholarly Works, Cited By or Cites)

Patent Searching – Lens.Org

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Help on:Boolean Operators

Proximity

Search Syntax

Wildcards

Operators Explanation Example

AND 2 keywords must be found in document apple AND orange

OR Either keywords found in document apple OR orange

NOT 1st keyword must be found but exclude 2nd keyword apple NOT orange

" " Keywords within quotation marks must be next to each other in the order specified

"apple juice"

( ) Using parentheses to define search order (apple OR orange) NOT juice

* Replace a string of characters at the end function*

? Replace a single character anywhere within the word Ne?t

~ Proximity Search (similar to N or W or NEAR operators in other databases). Enter ~ followed by a number.In this example, it will retrieve apple pie, apple sweet potato pie, etc.

"apple pie"~2

Field Search Search Specific field (e.g. Title) Field followed by use of “:”Can also use structured search form

title:treatmenttitle:(apple AND orange)full_text:"competitiveadvantage"

https://support.lens.org/help-resources/video-tutorial/boolean-operators/https://support.lens.org/help-resources/video-tutorial/proximity-search/https://support.lens.org/help-resources/basic-help/search-syntax/https://support.lens.org/help-resources/video-tutorial/wildcards/

All Fields:(3D printing) OR (Additive Manufacturing) – about 6.5M records

Titles/Abstracts/Claims:(3D printing) OR (Additive Manufacturing) – about 312K records

"3D printing" OR "Additive Manufacturing" – about 37K records

"3D printing"~2 OR "Additive Manufacturing"~2 – about 45K records

Patent Searching – Lens.Org

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How to Search Lens.Org – Topic Search

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• Topic Search

• Filter/Refine Search

• Patent Analysis

• Cited Works

Title/Abstracts/Claims Search on "3D printing" OR "Additive Manufacturing"

How to Search Lens.Org - ORCID

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• Dr Ge Yu, Julia - orcid.org/0000-0002-0861-2488

For more information on Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), see ORCID Libguide

Searching by ORCID in Lens.Org

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0861-2488http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/orcidhttps://www.lens.org/lens/search?q=citing_orcid_works:("0000-0002-0861-2488")&l=en

HOW to Search Patents Effectively

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Beware of "naïve" keyword searches!

"energy-storing

means"

spring "spherical object

with floppy filaments"

Sometimes the applicant

simply doesn't want his

application to be found.

"plurality of balls""fastening means"

Patent jargon is used to

broaden scope of the patent.

nail, screw, rivet ball bearing

toy ball

Source: Intellectual Property Teaching Kit (https://www.epo.org/learning-events/materials/kit/download.html)

https://www.epo.org/learning-events/materials/kit/download.html

Patent Analysis

Loh Mee Lan

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Patent Analysis

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- Broad overview of the technology- Identify trends- Who are the major companies/

institutions

Remember!!Patent analysis forms part of the overall analysis about the market/technology

Combine with business information, current affairs, non patent literature, etc. to get a more accurate view.

Patents

Business Information

Statistical Data

Current Affairs

Non patent literature

NUS Libraries Patent Libguide(http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patents)

Subscribed databases Patsnap Inspec, etc.

Free databases on Internet Google Patents The Lens

PATENTSCOPE, etc.

Patent Analysis

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http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patents

Access Patsnap via NUS Portal (http://lib.nus.edu.sg)

Patent Analysis - Access Patsnap

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http://lib.nus.edu.sg/

Search for a set of documents

Patent analysis using:- Landscape maps- Patsnap Insights

Patent Analysis - Patsnap

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Help on Patsnap Search Operators, Syntax, etc.

Patent Analysis - Patsnap

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Go to Search Helper for more tips: Search Syntax Tab; Use of stemming and wildcards

Operator Explanation Example

AND 2 keywords must be found in document apple AND orange

OR Either keywords found in document apple OR orange

NOT 1st keyword must be found but exclude 2nd

keywordapple NOT orange

“ “ Keywords within quotation marks must be next to each other in the order specified

“apple juice”

( ) Using parentheses to define search order (apple OR orange) NOT juice

* Replace a string of characters function*

$Wn Search words within “n” words of each other, in any order

vitamins $W5 nutrients

$WS Search words within SAME sentence vitamins $WS nutrients

http://analytics.patsnap.com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/search_helperhttps://www.patsnap.com/blog/stemming-wildcards-enhance-patent-search

Patsnap Landscape Maps

Ms Loh Mee Lan

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How the patents are organized:- “patent analysis algorithms to create what is essentially a self-

organising map”- “Similar patents are positioned closer together, and different patents

are spaced further apart”- “the mountains, where patents will be clustered, represent areas of

high activity and the low lying areas represent lower levels of patent activity”

- Clusters based classification codes and semantic analysis of keywords (title/abstracts)

Patent Analysis - Patsnap Landscape Maps

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Sources: Patsnap Help : Using The Landscape Tool & How are patents assigned to each category in Landscape

https://help.patsnap.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000409785-Using-The-Landscape-Toolhttps://help.patsnap.com/hc/en-us/articles/209459385-How-are-patents-assigned-to-each-category-in-Landscape-

Titles/Abstracts"3D printing" OR "Additive Manufacturing"

Additional Help (from Patsnap Website):- Help on Landscaping

How to Access- From Search Results

Sets- Workspace

Patent Analysis - Patsnap Landscape Maps

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https://help-patsnap-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/hc/en-us/sections/201920775-Landscape

Patent Analysis - Patsnap Landscape Maps

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See the “forests” (big picture/overview)

Landscape maps based on the set of documents retrieved

Is accurate as of today (legal status will change, new patents are published, etc.)

Lastly…. Store your relevant patents in workspace Set up alerts to keep updated……

Patsnap Insights

Loh Mee Lan

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Patsnap InsightsPatsnap Insights provides business intelligence information. You can assess opportunities andthreats, find valuable information, about the company or technology, etc. The data is based on information extracted from Patsnap database.

2 Types of Dashboards- Technology- Company

How to Access- From Search Results Sets (Patsnap)- Workspace (Patsnap)- Direct from NUS Libraries Portal

Patent Analysis - Patsnap Insights

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Patent Analysis - Patsnap Insights

Titles/Abstracts"3D printing" OR "Additive Manufacturing"

Patsnap Insights

Additional Help- Quick guide on finding company

information- Quick guide on finding

technology information

Patsnap Website- Additional Help on Patsnap Insights

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http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ilp/pat/gui/Patsnap_Insights_Company.pdfhttp://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ilp/pat/gui/Patsnap_Insights_Technology.pdfhttps://help-patsnap-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/hc/en-us/sections/201671335-Insights

Additional Search Tips

Ms Loh Mee Lan

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Can’t View Full Text Articles?

-Try apply Library Proxy Bookmarklet to see if NUS Libraries has the online version of the article. NUS staff/students may be able to access full text article.

We may also have the print copy of the journal in our library.

Additional Tips – Lens.Org

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You may be asked to purchased the article.

Apply NUS Libraries Proxy Bookmarketand get full text

http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/proxybookmarklet

You may also be interested to view the powerpoint slides from other Researcher Unbound Workshops

Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP) & Patents (13 March 2019) Dr Grace Wee (ILO, NUS) shared on brief introduction to IP Ms Loh Mee Lan (NUS Libraries) shared about basic searching in

Patsnap The Importance of Intellectual Property (IP) to Your Research (24

October 2018) Mr Daniel Poh (Partner & Patent Attorney from Marks & Clarks share about IP and its

relevance to research and about the Patent System)

Additional Search Tips

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https://libportal.nus.edu.sg/media/ms_ru/20190313ru-intellectualproperty.pdfhttps://libportal.nus.edu.sg/media/ms_ru/20181024ru-intellectualpropertypart2.pdf

Need help on searching Patsnap?

Go to Patent Libguide : Databases

Patsnap Online Help

Additional Search Tips

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http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/c.php?g=145610&p=954535https://help-patsnap-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/hc/en-us

Additional Search Tips

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Refer to NUS Libaries Patent Libguide

- FAQs and articles on IP and patents- Powerpoint presentations on other

sessions conducted by NUS Libraries- Quick Guides to Searching Patsnap

and Patsnap Insights- Access to other subscribed and free

patent related databases- Etc…

http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patents

http://libguides.nus.edu.sg/patents

HAVE A MINUTE? HELP US IMPROVE

j.mp/RUfeedback1

http://j.mp/RUfeedback1

PatTut_20190318RUbiz18Mar2019Slide Number 1Slide Number 2Slide Number 3Slide Number 4Slide Number 5Slide Number 6Slide Number 7Slide Number 8Slide Number 9Slide Number 10Slide Number 11Slide Number 12Slide Number 13Slide Number 14Slide Number 15Slide Number 16Slide Number 17Slide Number 18