HOSTS

Traditionally, IP (Intellectual Property) has often been associated with the protection of technology through intellectual property rights, such as patents. This perception has changed radically for many industries but also society as a whole in recent decades, not the least with the emergence of the knowledge-based and innovation-driven economies.
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Employing predominantly a problem-driven research approach, building on engineering research principles, we are committed to contributing to developing the future of effective IP and innovation management. As part of the Centre for Technology Management, the IIPM lab takes an engineering management (firm level) and relational perspective on IP within distributed and collaborative (open) innovation processes for emerging (manufacturing) technologies.
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With the aim to contribute to sustainability transitions, the Innovation and IP Management (IIPM) Lab focuses two priority areas:
1. Strategic IP management for effective innovation processes

We focus on IP issues that are of strategic relevance for technology-based firms, e.g. within R&D activities, innovation processes but also in corporate strategy and decision making. Our research focuses on IP management in the context of emerging technologies, particularly those addressing global challenges, such as Climate Change Mitigation Technologies (CCMT). As part of our research we seek to develop practical tools for the strategic management of IP.
2. New technologies for reinventing IP management

Technologies underpinning IP management have changed drastically during recent decades with patent data being digitized and the continuous development of increasingly sophisticated software solutions for analyzing and visualizing IP data. We, however, believe that this has just been the beginning and we are at a tipping point for how IP will be managed. Technologies such as AI, deep and machine learning have been adopted in other domains already to a much more sophisticated level than for IP analytics. Technologies, such as Blockchain (and distributed ledger technologies) may contribute to digitization of licensing transactions and the automation of complex royalty payment streams. Our research seeks to understand better the use cases for those and other technologies and contribute to the development of solutions that help “reinventing” IP management.

The Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law (CIPIL) was established in 2004 to foster the study of all aspects of intellectual property and information law. CIPIL organises conferences, seminars and visiting lectures, hosts visiting scholars, obtains research grants, undertakes research and makes available valuable resource material in this important field.
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The European content of CIPIL’s work has grown with the rapid penetration of European Union (the European Union trade mark, registered design and plant variety right, and the various harmonisation directives in the areas of copyright and designs, e-commerce, Internet content regulation and data protection), as well as and other measures, such as the European Patent Conventions and the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The Centre is also particularly interested in the development of British Commonwealth and United States law and in the relevant international conventions, including the TRIPs Agreement (Trade-Related Intellectual Property) of the World Trade Organisation. Its current research includes in particular the impact of digital technology (including liability of ISPs), protection of medical and genetic inventions, the history and ongoing reform of data protection, the history of trade mark law and the place of intellectual property in international law.
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The Centre has been fortunate to receive from funding and bequests from Dr Herchel Smith which enabled the establishment of the Herchel Smith Chair in Intellectual Property, held by Professor Lionel Bently, and the Herchel Smith Lectureship held by Professor Kathy Liddell. Dr Herchel Smith was a biochemist at the University of Cambridge (a fellow of Emmanuel College) and Harvard University who benefited considerably through patent rights, and during his lifetime was keen to support research into the field of Intellectual Property Law.
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The Centre is co-directed by Dr David Erdos and Professor Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan.