COMMERCIALIZATION OF PATENTS
The efforts to create value-added products, evident in the field across the entire ecosystem, are commendable. In this article, we will list a few recommendations based on our experience examining successful and unsuccessful applications. We believe that if taken into account, it will contribute to commercialization success and reduce the number of patents granted for shelved, vision-defending, or dormant purposes.
1- In our country, the commercialization model generally proceeds with the following steps.
The biggest problem with this model is that it leaves market use to the very end. It doesn't analyze market needs thoroughly during interim processes. The high number of uncommercialized patents means that problems the market needs are not being solved. The emergence of successful commercialized patents requires first and foremost a deep understanding of the customer/user/producer/supplier, production, and consumption (not R&D and invention) phases of the problem being addressed. Therefore, intervening in the model above at two points will significantly increase commercialization success.
There's a fundamental rule in the business world: Don't produce goods you can't sell. Working on a product or service that can't be sold or used means depleting the resources of individuals, organizations, and society.
The above sentences suggest we shouldn't produce or conduct R&D. Developed countries are doing everything. This shouldn't be perceived as us being unable to carve out a market for ourselves. South Korea uses a method called mirroring as an innovation tool. This method positions the industry leader and holds a mirror up to them. It offers an alternative product to the industry leader's product without any technical or legal issues. It is one of the most successful methods for achieving valuable innovation and products.
2- Both technical project writing and patent writing often focus on the differences, not the unique and superior features presented compared to their counterparts. Illustrating the financial and technical benefits of these unique and superior features with compelling reports will increase commercialization success. Below are the results of a test conducted for a fuel-saving device. The fact that the vehicle's specific fuel consumption decreases as its speed increases is clearly illustrated, eliminating any doubt.
3- Similarly, images and a single sentence should be used to illustrate the patent's content and the technical problem it solves, ensuring quick understanding. The problem the invention solves and its unique features should be transferable to third parties within 10-15 seconds.
The phrase Steve Jobs used when introducing the iPod became "1000 songs in my pocket." Similarly, any patent can be sloganized.
4- Prospective investors have a very simple evaluation criterion: what to invest and what to buy. The general expectation here is to achieve profitability above the industry's profit margin and general interest rates. A simple income statement should be able to demonstrate the patent's future projections (its share of the global and Turkish market, the patent's usable useful life, and the net profits to be earned over the years), and what to invest and what to gain.
