Innovation management in crisis: patent analytics as a response to the COVID‐19 pandemic

Crises like the COVID‐19 pandemic affect firms’ innovation management and decision making. On the downside, crises lead to detriments like budget constraints, to which firms often respond by reducing their innovation activities. On the upside, crises are opportunities, where some firms exploiting changing market requirements and necessities excel. No matter in which direction, decision makers must react quickly but often rely on ad‐hoc decisions or even gut feeling when drafting their crisis response strategies. Through a series of distinct cases, we demonstrate that innovation management may fill this void through patent analytics. Drawing on biochemical expertise, we particularly describe the functions and effects of COVID‐19. To counter downside detriments, firms may circumvent budget constraints by discerning patents that can be (1) monetized, for example via sales or licensing deals, or (2) abandoned to achieve cost‐savings, allowing firms to maintain their innovation activities. To realize upside opportunities, firms and governments may use patent analytics to detect key biotechnology firms that are likely to successfully develop treatments and vaccinations against pandemics like COVID‐19. Promulgated U.S. interest in relocating foreign firms to the United States is not without technological and commercial reasoning. Herein, the insights of this study contribute to a better understanding of the use of patent information, such as smart patent indicators, harmonized patent data, novel annuity fee measures, and hand‐collected datasets of COVID‐19 and related antibodies’ patents to the management of innovation in times of crisis

Innovation Management in Crisis: Patent Analytics as a Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic affect firms’ innovation management and decision making. On the downside, crises lead to detriments like budget constraints, to which firms often respond by reducing their innovation activities. On the upside, crises are opportunities, where some firms exploiting changing market requirements and necessities excel. No matter in which direction, decision makers must react quickly but often rely on ad-hoc decisions or even gut feeling when drafting their crisis response strategies. Through a series of distinct cases, we demonstrate that innovation management may fill this void through patent analytics. Drawing on biochemical expertise, we particularly describe the functions and effects of COVID-19. To counter downside detriments, firms may circumvent budget constraints by discerning patents that can be (1) monetized, for example via sales or licensing deals, or (2) abandoned to achieve cost-savings, allowing firms to maintain their innovation activities. To realize upside opportunities, firms and governments may use patent analytics to detect key biotechnology firms that are likely to successfully develop treatments and vaccinations against pandemics like COVID-19. Promulgated U.S. interest in relocating foreign firms to the United States is not without technological and commercial reasoning. Herein, the insights of this study contribute to a better understanding of the use of patent information, such as smart patent indicators, harmonized patent data, novel annuity fee measures, and hand-collected datasets of COVID-19 and related antibodies’ patents to the management of innovation in times of crisis

Exploring the Practice of Evaluation in Corporate Venturing

Venturing activities have become a cornerstone of corporates’ innovation strategies but remain subject to high failure rates. Failure reasons comprise especially poor evaluation qualities, resulting in sub-optimal resource allocations. In this study, we investigate the practice of evaluation in corporate venturing by analyzing primary data from twenty-one in-depth interviews with managers of internal corporate venturing (ICV) programs. We find that the evaluation elements (1) evaluation dates, (2) evaluation methodologies, and (3) evaluation bodies are not isolated – as often suggested by prior research – but interdependent by determining each other. By developing a better understanding of the specific relationships among the main evaluation elements in ICV programs, we contribute to the corporate venturing literature and provide guidance for practitioners

Patentindikatoren, Patentanalytik und Patentbewertung : von Innovation über SDGs bis hin zu Investitionsentscheidungen

With the advent of climate change and global pollution, the SDGs have become an inevitable new paradigm: It is increasingly recognized that SDG-compliant investing and policy design have the potential to reshape entire industries and positively impact the development of corporation, economies, and societies. With 80% of all technical inventions becoming patent protected, patent analytics serves as a reliable method for competitive and technology intelligence in mastering such challenges. With our symposium, we discuss the usability, advance boundaries, and develop novel approaches to bridge the gap between value-driven patent analytics, patent indicator development, financial-decision-making, and the promotion of sustainable technologies

Gender Diversity Effects in Investment Decisions

This study examines the gender gap in investment decisions in a prominent setting: the American TV show Shark Tank. Our study is based on a sample of 895 pitches from 10 seasons comprising 222 episodes from 2009 to 2019. Contradicting prior research, our findings suggest that female entrepreneurs are not discriminated against in pitch success rates, independent of their respective industrial settings. We find that the valuations from the entrepreneurs themselves (males overvalued their ventures by 57.19%) and final deal valuations (male deals were overvalued by 50.50%) are significantly lower for females, hinting towards a self-imposed gender gap in entrepreneurship and angel investing. As the gender gap in entrepreneurship and angel investment seems to result from a lower rate of entrepreneurial intentions by women, we suggest fostering female entrepreneurship by raising the number of female entrepreneurs and business angels who may serve as role models among those potential female entrepreneurs and business angels at the brink of becoming actual entrepreneurs, as demonstrated in Shark Tank. Particularly, in teams, mixed founder teams consisting of males and females may support the creation of promising start-ups with viable business models