The Innovation and Intellectual Property Management (IIPM) Laboratory is pleased to announce the latest addition to our strategic IP management toolkit: Strategizing with IP. Developed through a research project conducted by Roland A. Botchway and Prof. Frank Tietze, this tool is designed to help organisations move beyond merely ‘having’ a strategy to the active ‘doing’ of strategy, i.e. a concept often referred to in academic literature as strategizing.
Why Strategizing with IP Matters
Traditional strategy discourse often focuses on long-term goals and resource allocation, yet the actual process of using IP strategically has frequently remained a ‘black-box’ concept. In today’s volatile global environment, marked by geopolitical crises and shifting supply chains, it is more critical than ever for firms to actively strategize with their IP to achieve business objectives.
This new tool fills a gap in both academia and industry by providing a structured, visual framework specifically for IP strategizing. It enables IP owners to navigate competitive challenges, align their IP assets with business goals, and identify concrete future pathways in specific situations they find themselves and their business in.
The development of the tool followed the Design Science Research Method (DSRM), an iterative approach focused on creating practical, novel artifacts to solve real-world problems. The research involved synthesising a unified definition for the 'strategizing' concept based on a detailed literature review, expert consultation using semi-structured interviews with seven experts across IP strategy, visualisation, and tool development and an iterative refinement. The tool underwent seven versions, with each iteration incorporating feedback to improve usability, feasibility, and utility.
The final definition adopted for the tool describes Strategizing with IP as an occurrence-induced dynamic adaptation mechanism involving multiple actors using IP assets to select future directions aligned with business objectives.
The Tool in Practice: The Workshop Process
The tool is deployed through a collaborative workshop process designed to foster cross-departmental/functional engagement, e.g. involving the Head of R&D, IP council, CEO, CFO, VP for IP.
The Six Steps: From Stock-taking to Strategic Action
The tool's strength lies in its six-step design, which transforms abstract strategic thinking into a visual, actionable guidance:
Step 1: Identifying the (Anticipated) Occurrence Strategizing is often a response to a trigger. Participants begin by describing an event—either a reactive disruption (like a competitor's move) or a proactive anticipated change (like a new technological trend)—in less than 20 words. This ensures the strategic discussion is grounded in a specific, high-priority reality.
Step 2: Defining Affected Business Objectives Participants identify which measurable targets—such as financial growth, market expansion, or sustainability—are directly impacted by the chosen occurrence. This prevents "strategic drift" by keeping the focus on objective-driven decisions.
Step 3: Mapping IP Assets This step involves a comprehensive audit of both internal and external IP assets. Using a linking grid and dot-voting, the group selects the most relevant patents, trademarks, or trade secrets that can influence the identified business objectives.
Step 4: Plotting Future Directions Drawing from the previous three steps, participants brainstorm opportunities or future pathways. This stage is crucial for "wayfinding"—constructing new action pathways to navigate complex competitive environments.
Step 5: Applying Scoring Criteria The tool introduces a structured scoring scale to evaluate the feasibility of these future directions. Directions are ranked based on two primary factors:
◦ The extent to which the direction supports business objectives.
◦ The helpfulness of available IP assets in achieving that direction.
6. Step 6: Summarizing the Narrative The process culminates in the creation of a vision narrative. The highest-scoring direction is distilled into a ten-word vision, accompanied by a sequenced action plan. This moves the strategy from a "black box" concept into a tangible set of short, medium, and long-term tasks.
Promoting Collaborative Excellence
A key advantage of this visual tool is its ability to facilitate conversations and dialogue among participants about the strategic use of IP. By providing a ‘self-facilitating’ template, the tool empowers groups to organise their own strategic discussions with minimal intervention and need for professionally facilitated moderation. Whether for a start-up or a large multinational, the tool serves as a visual medium to bridge the gap between abstract IP assets and actionable business results.
Access the Tool
We invite the business IP management community to explore this new resource. The Strategizing with Intellectual Property workshop template is now available for download through our Strategic IP Tool Catalogue.
We are always on the look-out for organisations that wish to trial our tools. Please contact Prof. Tietze or Graham Bell, if that is of interest to you.