N. 37, January - March 2008 
IP & RTD: Articles 

Looking for excellence in Intellectual Property Management
Rafael Ramírez Mirabal, DrC.
Alejandra Villoch Cambas, DrC.
 
Nowadays, the idea that we are in the “Knowledge Era”, where intangible assets are the most valuable elements in national and regional economies, is increasingly accepted. For this reason, governments, universities and research institutions wish to apply dynamic policies to the Intellectual Property field to promote these assets’ development, accumulation and use as essential tools for their economies1.

The kind of knowledge that can give an organisation competitive advantages covers a wide range, from knowledge that can be patented to knowledge of customers’ needs, and also knowledge that allows it to improve after-sales services or to optimise manufacturing processes.

Thus, if an organisation wishes to be competitive across time, it must identify, create, store, transmit and efficiently use its employees’ particular and collective knowledge to solve problems, to improve processes or services and, above all, to take advantage of new business opportunities.

Knowledge management systems must focus on the following areas: organisation preparation (culture), intellectual asset management, information flows and work processes.

Transforming human knowledge capital into intellectual property results in a powerful economic force.

Consequently, knowledge and human capital expressed as intellectual property are innate in society. The difference today is that there is a new configuration and integration of the meanings of these concepts.


Process management in organisations and its implementation in Intellectual Property management

Process management perceives organisations or any activity within an organisation as an interrelated process system that contributes to increased customer satisfaction, which is understood in the broadest sense.

According to the principles and vocabulary defined in the ISO Standard 9000:2000, a process is the collection of linked activities that takes one or more inputs at the starting point and transforms them to generate outputs, that is to say a sequence of activities meant to give added value to an input to obtain an outcome, and an output that satisfies the proposed requirements.

Nowadays, processes are possibly the most important and common element in the management of companies, universities and organisations. This interest in processes has allowed the development of a series of techniques related to management schemes, where they have a central role as the basis for organisation and as a guide according to which a system of indicators is articulated.

It is advisable to establish a so-called general process map to define the organisation of any activity as an interrelated process system, where the relationship between different activities is shown. Key, strategic and supporting or helping processes are distinguished.

Once processes have been identified, an index card to facilitate their understanding is made for each one. These index cards are made according to the documentation system existing at the company 2.

An important aspect of efficient management of processes is knowing how the structure must be organised as a system. To this end, an organisational structure, the necessary procedures, processes and resources are created to allow their management. This has proven to be a quick and feasible way to achieve the aims proposed by the systems.

Actions included in intellectual property can be managed as a system of processes to achieve real exploitation of the possibilities and to ensure that IP properly serves the interests of the organisations and countries where it is generated. It thereby stimulates social development and favours a reliable atmosphere in the performance of business activities, scientific-technical collaboration, RTD activity and the negotiation of any created knowledge manifestations.

Based on the analysis already done at the National Farming Health Centre (Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria, CENSA), an IDT organisation from Cuba, an Internal Property Intellectual System (IPIS) has been developed. The system has provided for more efficient speciality management through the application of these concepts, which could also be used by other organisations with similar functions3.

The steps below were followed to establish the system:



To identify processes, a Cause-Effect4 diagram was developed, in which the Cuban Industrial Property System’s (SNCPI) Guiding Criteria or Requirements were considered basic elements. The Copyright elements useful for the protection of the results obtained were also incorporated, as well as the Trade secret or Non-divulgated Information possibilities.

In Figure 1, the results obtained in the identification of the processes, where cause-effect relationships applied to the analysis of the SNCPI’s Guiding Criteria are set, are shown. Aspects defined in these Criteria and included in each process are marked in red.



Five main processes, which were designated for easy use, were identified:

  1. Rights assessment

  2. Information control

  3. Rights application

  4. Business exploitation

  5. Training

In order to establish the interrelation of the processes identified, a map of the processes was drawn as the first step to understanding and improving them. The IPIS processes map is presented in Figure 2, where interrelations among the five processes are shown. Following the defined criteria on the types of processes possible, the processes considered key were those related to rights assessment, business exploitation and rights application, so basic and fundamental actions to be executed are concentrated on them.



Interrelationships among the processes defined were proven, where one’s exit elements become the other’s entry elements, starting with the identification of the projects as the source of results that need protection until their commercial exploitation as intangible assets is reached, not only nationally but also internationally.

The information control process was defined as strategic for the system, as it guarantees confidentiality and divulgation control criteria, which are required to validate many industrial property registration applications, excepte protection for those identified as trade secret. Lastly, training processes are defined as those processes supporting the functioning of the system since they ensure that its actors will receive basic and specialised intellectual property knowledge without which none of the processes can be developed.

Processes also comply with the four basic aspects set out as requirements for ISO Standards 9000:2000: Process Identification and Definition; Head appointment; Elaboration and Maintenance of processes from each one and the Effectiveness valuation in reaching the needed result.

International experience indicates that expenses for knowledge generation are rising and that investments in knowledge generation are higher and higher, which means efforts and actions to be carried out to negotiate intangible assets derived from this process, must have a guarantee of total success.5

Assessment results from IPIS in CENSA have proved how work improves with this conception and how it can be applied in other areas. The system does not create an excessive number of processes, and indications regarding SNCPI’s guiding criteria are included within the five established procedures. On the other hand, this replies adequately to indications on industrial property for commercial exploitation in IDT centres, where activities on this topic require the interrelated execution of tasks that must be implemented, arranged and supervised at the institutional level.

Proposals drafted on this work are not the only solution for effectively incorporating intellectual property tools into the functioning of investigation institutions, but taking into account the mission they have accomplished, it is expected that they carry out this task with the full possible rigor. In order to achieve this, it is advisable to consider the most efficient methodological tools at those centres aiming to turn their intellectual capital into the most appreciated resource and to study their attitude toward the environment. The use of quality management and processes management has proven to be a quick and feasible way to achieve these aims.


Bibliography





1. Desarrollo y gestión de activos de propiedad intelectual: un elemento clave del desarrollo económico. WIPO Magazine, July-September, 2002.(«)


2. Hernández, J. ISO 9001:2000 en Organizaciones Sanitarias. DET NORSKE VERITAS ESPAÑA. Available at: http://www.dnv.es/Binaries/sanidad_tcm20-129213.pdf(«)


3. Ramírez , R. Sistema de Gestión de Calidad para Propiedad Intelectual en un centro de investigación agropecuario. Tesis presentada en opción al grado de Doctor en Ciencias Veterinarias. La Habana, December, 2005.(«)


4. Ishikawa, K. ¿Qué es el control total de la calidad?. La modalidad japonesa. Ed. Ciencias Sociales, Ciudad Habana, Cuba, 1988.(«)


5. Drucker, P. Post-Capitalist Society. Ed. Harper Business, 1994.(«)