Technology and competitor mapping designed to support strategic business decisions Original Research Article

A business support tool has been created to show in a one-page matrix how a patent portfolio matches that of selected competitors and matches a current business strategy. The vertical axis of the matrix represents the business strategy and the horizontal axis describes products reflected in the patent portfolio. The work of defining the axes requires cooperation between the internal customer and the patent information professional, and this helps build a common language to enable positioning patent documents in the correct matrix cells. The matrix enables planning of new innovation areas and may suggest cooperation partners or acquisition targets.