IP frontiers: navigating innovation in eight key industries

This year's questionnaire focuses on eight pivotal industries, all of which are undergoing significant change thanks to disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), new business methodologies and external commitments such as meeting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. For this report, IP Trend Monitor panelists were asked about their projections and expectations for the near future. While it is impossible to cover all the relevant topics in this format, the questions were designed to address IP-specific issues in general business forecasts and economic developments.

A vista of change

The eight industries explored in this year's IP Trend Monitor are automotive, biotechnology, energy, digital media, information and communications technology (ICT), medical devices, pharmaceuticals and space. For all of them, an advanced level of innovation is essential to the development of new products, services and business models. Thus, each industry also raises intriguing points about the influence of IP strategies and how different kinds of exclusive rights will shape the future of research and commerce.

To start with, respondents were asked to rate the importance of IP in driving innovation in each sector. It is striking that the three industries where most respondents said that IP is "extremely important" are all in healthcare: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices. Perhaps surprisingly, just 17% of respondents said that IP is "extremely important" in the digital media industry, while 20% chose "not at all important" or "not so important." Although IP rights, particularly copyrights, are a foundation of the entertainment business, this result may indicate that other factors are viewed as impelling its development.

Another industry where IP rights are viewed as less impactful is, curiously, space exploration, where more than 40% of respondents said IP is only "somewhat important" at best. This may be because space exploration is still a relatively young industry that has been dominated by public entities rather than private companies. As this changes, with the emergence of private-sector projects and partnerships, the significance attached to IP may increase.

Combining answers from large corporations and SMEs, responses were more moderate overall, with fewer people selecting the weightiest options for every industry. By contrast, respondents from law firms generally tended more to the antipodes. In general, respondents from C-suite / management were more likely than the average to rate IP as "extremely important," including for pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, automotive and space exploration. Nevertheless, the opposite was true for energy and digital media, where the primacy of IP was slightly downplayed.

The complete edition of IP Trend Monitor collates 1,803 answers and opinions in 42 pages that are bursting with valuable data and professional insights. Additional industry snapshots place this year's findings in the wider business context, linking the intangible world with measurable economic and demographic statistics. Download your free copy today, and join us at the frontier of IP!