Searching for a suitable patent system for Finnish SMEs

Suomalaiset pienet ja keskisuuret yritykset (pk-yritykset) haluavat olla mukana maailmanlaajuisessa teknologisessa kehityksessä ja kasvattaa liiketoimintaansa erilaisten innovaatioiden avulla. Näitä innovaatioita pitää suojella kansallisesti ja kansainvälisesti. Lainsäädäntö on kehittänyt tätä varten immateriaalioikeudet, joista tässä työssä käsitellään patenttia. Patentti antaa yksinoikeuden keksintöön sekä suojaa teknisiä ja teollisia innovaatioita väärinkäytöltä. Samalla se voi rajata kilpailua. Monet suomalaiset pk-yritykset ovat kasvavassa määrin hyödyntämässä patenttisuojaa omiin innovaatioihinsa, mutta koko ajan lisääntyvä patenttidatan ja -työkalujen määrä sekä hajanaisuus aiheuttavat haasteita oikean patenttijärjestelmän löytämiselle. Tässä työssä käsitellään neljää patenttijärjestelmää, kansainvälinen, eurooppa-, yhtenäis- ja kansallinen patenttijärjestelmä, koska ne antavat laajan vertailupohjan sekä ovat suomalaisten pk-yritysten innovaatioiden suojaamiseen mahdollisia järjestelmiä. Patenttia suunnittelevien suomalaisten pk-yritysten olisi hyvä ymmärtää patenttilainsäädäntö sekä patenttijärjestelmät. Lisäksi niiden tulisi ottaa huomioon erilaiset ulkoiset tekijät, kuten ympäristönsuojelu ja muut lait. Yrityksellä pitäisi olla myös valmiina riittävän selkeä liiketoiminta- sekä taloudellinen suunnitelma. Tämä tutkielma pyrkii vastaamaan näihin haasteisiin tarjoamalla suomalaisille pk-yritykselle sopivat patenttityökalut oikean patenttijärjestelmän löytämiselle. Pk-yritysten liiketoimintaympäristön, koon ja innovaatiobudjetin vaihtelun vuoksi työ jättää yksittäiselle yritykselle mahdollisuuden itse valita tietty patenttijärjestelmä omien rajojensa puitteissa. Tutkielma on toteutettu oikeusdogmaattisena tutkimuksena laajan oikeudellisen aineiston, kuten lakien ja oikeuskirjallisuuden, avulla. Lisäksi siinä hyödynnetään monia kaupallistaloudellisia lähteitä, joita ovat esimerkiksi tieteelliset artikkelit, tutkimukset sekä tilastot. Patenttityökaluja on monia, ja ne voidaan jakaa patenttijohtamisen, -strategian, taloudellisten laskelmien sekä patenttidataan pohjautuviin (prior art) työkaluihin. Näiden työkalujen avulla pk-yritykset saavat kokonaiskuvan eri patenttinäkökulmista ja pystyvät valitsemaan itselleen sopivan patenttijärjestelmän laajasta patenttidatasta. Kaikki työkalut ovat tärkeitä, mutta niiden hyödyntämisen laajuutta tulee harkita jokaisessa yrityksessä erikseen, jotta yritysten omat tavoitteet voidaan saavuttaa. Tutkimustulokset tarjoavat paljon tärkeää tietoa patenttihakemuksesta. Taustatyö täytyy kuitenkin toteuttaa ensin huolellisesti, mikä tarkoittaa taloudellisen ja liiketoiminnallisen suunnittelun tärkeyttä ennen laajempien innovaatiosuunnitelmien täytäntöönpanoa. Toisaalta pk-yritysten tulee ottaa huomioon ulkoiset teknologiset, lainsäädännölliset, taloudelliset ja ympäristölliset tekijät. Patenttijärjestelmien näkökulmasta kustannukset, hakemusajat, oikeudenkäynnit, luottamus järjestelmään, maantieteellinen laajuus, saatavuus ja patenttihakemuksen vaatimukset vaikuttavat tutkimuksen lopputulokseen

Knowledge Based Approach to Support Innovation Processes in Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises

Knowledge plays a key role in the management of innovation processes in the organisation. A large number of efforts have been made to support the innovation processes by academics and practitioners in the field of Innovation and Knowledge Management. As a result, there are several methods and approaches now available for companies to manage their innovation knowledge more effectively. However, the aspects of knowledge identification, storage and utilisation to support innovation processes has not been researched extensively. In addition, it is argued that the existing methods and approaches which were originally developed and implemented in large organisations do not meet the special requirements of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, there is a need for more research to investigate what information and knowledge sources are being used, how these sources are stored and when they are utilised in the innovation process in SMEs. This thesis inspects the above mentioned issues in greater depth by conducting a series of case studies of the innovation processes in SMEs. The research has been specifically focused on the needs of SMEs in the manufacturing sector and has studied product, process and service innovation. This research programme commenced with a thorough study of the current literature associated with Innovation, Innovation Models, Knowledge Management, Quality Circle Programme and Learning Organisation. The second stage of this research has utilised the findings from the literature review to develop a novel research framework to examine current innovation and knowledge management practices in use within manufacturing SMEs. The programme applied primary research methods to validate the knowledge gained from the secondary research. The UK based manufacturing SMEs were used as test beds to investigate and understand their innovation practices, tools and procedures applied in their innovation processes; and to gather responses to key research questions. In the third stage, the results from the previous stages were utilised to develop a novel knowledge-based innovation framework that implements a new methodology for the adoption of innovation processes in manufacturing SMEs. The construction of the novel innovation framework has been based on individual practices found in traditional problem-solving approaches such as the Quality Circle Programme, combined with a selected group of practices obtained from different management processes such as Knowledge Management and team learning and sharing practices such as Learning Organisation. The fourth stage implemented the proposed framework as a software tool that can be used to support innovation processes. In the final stage, the thesis was concluded with the validation of the proposed knowledge toolset, discussion on the validation results and the application of the toolset to support innovation processes in manufacturing SMEs

A web-based learning system for software test professionals

Fierce competition, globalization, and technology innovation have forced software companies to search for new ways to improve competitive advantage. Web-based learning is increasingly being used by software companies as an emergent approach for enhancing the skills of knowledge workers. However, the current practice of Web-based learning is perceived as being less goal-effective due to a lack of alignment of learning with work performance. To solve this problem, a performance-oriented approach is presented in this study. Using this approach, a Web-based learning system has been developed for software testing professionals. An empirical study was conducted by inviting employees working in the software testing sector to use and evaluate the system. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed approach. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Information Security Risk Management: In Which Security Solutions Is It Worth Investing?

As companies are increasingly exposed to information security threats, decision makers are permanently forced to pay attention to security issues. Information security risk management provides an approach for measuring the security through risk assessment, risk mitigation, and risk evaluation. Although a variety of approaches have been proposed, decision makers lack well-founded techniques that (1) show them what they are getting for their investment, (2) show them if their investment is efficient, and (3) do not demand in-depth knowledge of the IT security domain. This article defines a methodology for management decision makers that effectively addresses these problems. This work involves the conception, design, and implementation of the methodology into a software solution. The results from two qualitative case studies show the advantages of this methodology in comparison to established methodologies

Applying the positioning phase of the digital transformation model in practice for SMEs: toward systematic development of digitalization

Digital transformation (DT) refers to the changes in ways of working and business offering caused by adoption of digital technologies in an organization. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling with this transformation because of their limited resources and know-how. Thus, SMEs need practical grassroots-level help for DT that allows the companies to analyze where they stand in digitalization, and how they should proceed. This article discusses how SMEs can be supported in their DT by utilizing the DT model consisting of four consecutive phases for supporting companies’ systematic development of digitalization. The article focuses on the first phase of the DT model, positioning, where company’s digitalization status is analyzed in detail, and development ideas are identified. The positioning phase was conducted for 19 SMEs in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. The results indicate that the used process and tools were suitable to support SMEs for analyzing their digitalization status and identifying areas for improvement. The DT model and piloted tools have been published as a free-of-charge ApuaDigiin.fi online service to facilitate their widespread use in the future. In this way, public regional business development authors or research organizations can utilize the online service while supporting the digitalization of SMEs

CHORUS Deliverable 2.2: Second report - identification of multi-disciplinary key issues for gap analysis toward EU multimedia search engines roadmap

After addressing the state-of-the-art during the first year of Chorus and establishing the existing landscape in multimedia search engines, we have identified and analyzed gaps within European research effort during our second year. In this period we focused on three directions, notably technological issues, user-centred issues and use-cases and socio- economic and legal aspects. These were assessed by two central studies: firstly, a concerted vision of functional breakdown of generic multimedia search engine, and secondly, a representative use-cases descriptions with the related discussion on requirement for technological challenges. Both studies have been carried out in cooperation and consultation with the community at large through EC concertation meetings (multimedia search engines cluster), several meetings with our Think-Tank, presentations in international conferences, and surveys addressed to EU projects coordinators as well as National initiatives coordinators. Based on the obtained feedback we identified two types of gaps, namely core technological gaps that involve research challenges, and “enablers”, which are not necessarily technical research challenges, but have impact on innovation progress. New socio-economic trends are presented as well as emerging legal challenges