2019

Yesterday was a big day when Sarah van Santen defended her Licentiate Thesis, with the title Understanding the Role of Intellectual Property in Digital Technology-based Startups: Decisions and Dynamics. She did a wonderful job. Prof. Pia Hurmelinna provided constructive feedback and led the discussion. The thesis is available here:
https://research.chalmers.se/publication/513863/file/513863_Fulltext.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2Sw13gBd8lPAxO2kGTWvr-yGW6Q0yFkewE7ehzY1Esvo1hpAQi6TOy5pg

On November 8th, Professor Ove Granstrand held a seminar at Lund University School of Economics and Management, hosted by the Business Law centre ACLU, the IP forum FIF and the IP consultancy firm Valea. The seminar covered research from his book Evolving Properties of Intellectual Capitalism. Based on his two investigations, one national about Sweden and one international, about how patents could be better used to promote innovation for better ends, Granstrand outlines policy recommendations for strengthening innovativeness for economic growth and ultimately for social value creation. Furthermore, a discussion was held about the threat from global challenges, such as climate change and financial crises, and the implications for innovation and technology management.

Marcus Holgersson is currently visiting Cambridge University, where he among other things has presented his joint work with Sarah van Santen on IP strategy and its mediator role in the digital business model. The presentation raised a lot of interest among the participants, leading to many new ideas on how to improve the presented paper and continue the research moving forward.

One of the very first comprehensive empirical studies of IP strategies in large corporations is now available here. It was originally published as chapter 7 in Ove Granstrand’s widely recognized book from 1999: The Economics and Management of Intellectual Property. The study is based on the concept of a strategy ladder, enabling the integration of IP strategies laterally across main IPR types and vertically with technology and business strategies. After a survey of a number of advantages and disadvantages of patenting from a corporate perspective, the chapter reviews generic patent strategies and counterstrategies, litigation strategies, secrecy strategies and counterstrategies and other IPR strategies, that can be used jointly in multi-protection. The empirical survey and case studies mainly focus on IP strategies in large Japanese corporations and how they responded to US corporate patent and litigation strategies.

Check out the study to gain further insights into IP strategies that are still relevant today, not the least in light of the evolving IP strategy game between US and China.

Our researcher Marcus Holgersson is currently hosting the 2019 Berkeley summer program at UC Berkeley. The program admits 35 of our high-performing students in Industrial Engineering and Management at Chalmers, and includes studies at UC Berkeley, visits to tech firms in Silicon Valley, and case projects with startups in the area. The program started a couple of weeks ago, and has already included visits to organizations such as Tesla Motors, Volvo Group, Stanford University, Nordic Innovation House, and ETC Labs, an accelerator for blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies. Much more is to follow! A visit to the baseball game between Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays made a relaxing break after an intense first week. The program runs until mid-August.