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Executive Summary
Obtain unique insight into the technology asset base of AIM-listed IP-intensive companies, including ranking across a set of patent-based criteria
Access benchmarks and business intelligence including key employees and inventors, most influential patents in company portfolios and industry specialisations.
- Introduction
- About IP Intensive AIM-Listed Companies
- Content and Features Outline
- Why do patent measures matter?
- Who Will Benefit from this Report?
- Methodology Background
Introduction
High-growth technology-based companies are widely recognised as an important channel for the diffusion of new scientific and technological developments, and an important employer in the UK economy. For many years such companies have raised growth funding in the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). There is a plethora of research available on their financial performance. Yet until now there has been little research in the specific technologies underpinning AIM companies, and the people behind these technologies.
Strategic IP Management is an increasingly important aspect of preserving a company's technology assets and ensuring long-term value creation. CambridgeIP's report brings transparency and insight to this driver of the long-term success of technology-intensive companies.
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About IP Intensive AIM-Listed Companies
The Alternative Investments Market (AIM) is an important location for innovative businesses to seek growth funding. Since its launch in 1995 over 2,500 businesses from the UK and internationally have raised in excess of £34bn. Recent years have seen a diverse range of technology-intensive businesses access growth funding on AIM. Technology generation powerhouses such as Imperial Innovations, the technology transfer arm of Imperial College, London; or IDA Tech, a fuel cell developer from North America have all found AIM a convenient mechanism to fund their growth in the UK and internationally.
Our report gives unique insight into the intellectual property assets of a group of 68 technology-intensive AIM-listed companies. The analyses provide you with a unique insight on the technology capabilities, inventor teams and intellectual assets that underpin the growth strategy of these companies.
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Content & Features Outline
We are providing our readers with a free preview for many of the analyses and data contained in the full report. See the table below for a list of features and content in the 'Free' and 'Paid For' Online Report Sections.
| Type of Analysis and Content | Free Online Access | Paid-for Online Access |
| Company Information | ||
| Description of IP Intensive AIM Companies | Full list | Full List |
| 10 Year Patent History: AIM and Companies | Top 3 companies | All Companies |
| Company Patent Portfolio by Filing Authority | no | yes, for Top 10 Companies |
| Inventor Network Analysis | 1 Company Only | Top 6 Companies; others on demand at discounted rate |
| Full Patent-based Profile p/company | no | Available at Discounted Rate |
| AIM Company Patent Rankings | ||
| by Number of Patents: 2006, 2007, All Time | Top 5 only | Full List |
| by Total Number of Citations | Top 3 only | Top 50 |
| by % of Patents Outside of UK | Top 3 only | Top 100 |
| by Number of US Patents | Top 3 only | Full List |
| by Number of Chinese patents | Top 3 only | Full List |
| Inventor Patent Ranking | ||
| by Number of Patents: All Time | Top 5 only | Top 100 |
| by Number of US Patents | no | Full List |
| by Number of Chinese Patents | no | Full List |
| Technology Ranking | ||
| Most influential patents by AIM Companies - all | Top 5 | Top 50 |
| Most influential patent for each company | no | yes |
| Patent Portfolio Benchmarks | ||
| Portfolio Composition by Filing Authority - Overall | Pie Chart - All Time | yes |
| IPC Composition of All AIM Patents | ||
| Level 1 IPC | yes | yes |
| Level 2 IPC | no | yes |
| Downloadable Full Dataset of Analyses | no | yes |
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Why do patent measures matter?
As markets adapt to the impact of the current financial crisis both entrepreneurs and investors will seek to identify and nurture core value in their enterprises. In any environment, the patent portfolio of a technology company is much more than a set of legal documents. Patents are a 'hard' measure of a company's intangible assets, and a strong signal to investors and clients of the value of products and services. A company's patent portfolio represents a frequently under-exploited business development opportunity. In some industries patents are used as an 'exchange currency': in developing cross-licensing agreements with competitors and suppliers, and in 'buying' your company a ticket to the big game. And, of course, a strong and enforceable patent portfolio can represent a strong barrier to entry for competitors.
What patent measures are appropriate?
An easy direct measure is to compare the total number of patents owned by a company: easily identifying some of the most technology intensive companies in a sector. But within a portfolio of 100s or 1000s of individual patents, it is also possible to look for the gems. Commercially valuable technology will be protected by patents filed in several countries: giving rise to patent families. The geographical distribution of patents - what countries are included or excluded in a patent family - can provide valuable information about the company's strategy and strength of IP protection.
It is also possible to gauge the influence of a company's patent in an industry, by looking at citation frequency - the number of times it has been cited as prior art. Patent data can also serve to identify exceptional technology entrepreneurs and inventors, whose creativity underpins the growth of technology companies. Patent Inventor Network maps can be used to explore the relationships of a company's inventors with other inventors, within and outside their own organisation. Finally, and perhaps contrary to popular perceptions, patent protection is increasingly important in key emerging economies. China in particular has emerged as a key destination for patenting activity of US corporations, as they seek to position themselves in this growing market.
Our report uses these and other measures to provide you with benchmarks and business intelligence on IP-intensive AIM listed companies.
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Who Will Benefit from this Report?
Key Audiences |
Example Benefits |
CEOs and Executive Directors |
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IP Managers & Licensing Executives |
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IP Lawyers & consultants |
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Corporate Strategists & Licensing Execs |
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Headhunters |
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Equity analysts & stock investors |
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M&A Professionals |
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Policy makers |
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Journalists & researchers |
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Venture Capital & Private Equity professionals |
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Methodology Background
There are over 1,600 companies listed on AIM, the bulk of which are not patent-intensive. We identified a group of 68 companies who account for the clear majority of patents by AIM-listed companies for detailed analysis. These 68 are responsible for a total of 5,000+ published patents and patent applications as of October 2008.
Some AIM-listed companies rely more on forms of IP protection other than patents (such as copyright and trade secrets) and some heavily utilise technology without owning or generating many patents. Our report's findings should be interpreted in the context of patent-intensive industries and technologies. The data is up-to-date as of October 2008.back to top