Intellectual Property Management for Start-Ups: Enhancing Value and Leveraging the Potential

This book examines intellectual property (IP) as an important value driver for start-ups. Businesses of all sizes are inevitably confronted with intellectual property issues at some point, but start-ups and their collaborators face unique challenges and opportunities in IP management. Identifying, generating, and exploiting intellectual property can lead to sustainable competitive advantages and avoidance of risks. Many start-ups sense the complexity of IP management and therefore place their energy elsewhere. However, the clear conclusion to be drawn from this unique collection of contributions is that putting an IP management strategy in place is critical to the successful development of a business. Prof. Dr. Martin A. Bader and Prof. Dr. Sevim Süzeroğlu-Melchiors have years of experience as consultants, entrepreneurs, business owners, and researchers where they saw firsthand the need for a comprehensive yet practical resource for start-ups and their key stakeholders.

This book explores different perspectives in dealing with IP from six different angles: the start-up's view, the investor's view, the corporation's view, the university's view, the global IP office's view, and the advisor's view. Each section consists of chapters written by leading experts from around the globe including Silicon Valley, Canada, Israel, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, France, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, Singapore, and South Africa. Contributors bring practical experience from a wide range of sectors, such as information and communication technology, software, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, industrial automation, internet of things, life sciences, pharma, crop science, biotech, medtech, mining, sustainability, climate tech, and even quantum technologies. This timely publication serves as a guidebook for entrepreneurs and other key stakeholders in the start-up ecosystem. It empowers founders to develop their own IP management strategy to mitigate risk, create and capture value, and lay the groundwork for sustainable growth. An essential reference for start-ups to achieve business excellence.

"This edited book volume offers valuable insights, bringing together perspectives of key stakeholder groups from a wide variety of innovation ecosystems - an invaluable resource." --Carsten Fink, Chief Economist, World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva
"A timely book for those wanting a clear overview of the issues the different players encounter in the start-up ecosystem. A useful resource indeed. Congratulations to the editors and team."--Audrey Yap, Managing Partner YUSARN AUDREY LLC, Past President LESI, Chairman Singapore Innovation & Productivity Institute, Singapore
"A 'must read' for all innovators in the start-up world. It is truly a fantastic book and one I would recommend being bought and read (in full)!"--Laurence Freeman, Professor (Adjunct), CU Denver Business School, Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship, Denver, Colorado, United States

Martin A. Bader is a European and Swiss patent attorney, as well as partner and co-founder of the specialized innovation and intellectual property management advisory group BGW AG St. Gallen (Switzerland). Currently, Martin is Professor of Technology Management and Entrepreneurship and the Director of the Entrepreneurship and Digital Business Master's Program at THI Business School at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Ingolstadt (Germany). He is also a long-standing author of numerous specialist publications and an internationally sought-after speaker in the field of intellectual property management.

Sevim Süzeroğlu-Melchiors is Professor of Digital Entrepreneurship and Finance and the Director of the Master's Degree Program in Digital Entrepreneurship at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Regensburg (Germany). In 2016, she completed her PhD at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). Previously, she was the Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board of Directors, and later the Global Head of Consulting at Dennemeyer Group, in Luxembourg. She is an active researcher, advisory board member, and speaker at international conferences, as well as a lead impartial appraiser in IP valuation projects.