| Description |
Patinformatics is newly emerging science, which involves analyzing set of patent data to discover relationship and trends which would be difficult to see when working with patent documents on a one-on-one basis.
A patent document is a complete disclosure of commercial, scientific and technological information. It is estimated that about 70% of the information disclosed in patents is never published anywhere else. Very often, it is also the earliest disclosure of a new technology or a new product.
A unique and valuable source of scientific and technical information, patent literature is often overlooked and underutilized by researchers and information professionals. This is understandable, given that until recently it was difficult for everyone to access patent information.
However Internet has made a paradigm shift; patent information is now readily accessible for free on the World Wide Web. Patent offices in most developed nations including new emerging economies maintain web-enabled patent databases containing millions of patent records. The European Patent Office's esp@cenet system alone has more than 50 million patent documents from approximately 70 countries, the earliest dating from the mid-19th century.
There are also very specialized value added paid databases such as Delphion, Derwent, Micropatent, Patbase, Patent Cafe, Q Pat etc., which are available for patent document retrieval. The semantic patent search technology has revolutionized patent research.
Patinformatics Tools
Patent analysis results can be displayed by visual representation using bar graphs, polygonal line graphs, pie charts, radar charts and other charts/graphs, which are called Patent Maps. The various tools useful to generate patent maps are Vantage Point, Aureka ThemeScape, Crystal Xelcious, STN AnaVist, etc.
There is now integration of Latent Semantic Analysis / advanced linguistics patent search technology, portfolio management software, online patent analytics, international patent database into a Decision Support System (DSS) class of enterprise software applications.
Patinformatics Applications
Patent information is more than just technological or legal information. Some of the practical applications of patent information include: Management of Research and Development (R&D), A Tool for Creative Thinking, Competitor Monitoring, Technology Assessment, New Venture Evaluation, Input for Licensing Strategy, Supporting Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Human Resource Management. In today's complex knowledge-driven economy, effective use of patent information while developing and introducing a new product may determine the success or failure of the product and, in turn, the success or failure of the company itself.
Opportunities
The advent of Internet and availability of patent databases, software and analytical tools has created more opportunities in the area of patent search, analysis and other value added services. India has become an attractive destination for patent related services because of availability of technical human resource and cost effectiveness. This calls for appropriate human resource development and up gradation of skills of existing information professionals.
Programme
Realizing the importance of this newly emerging area, Society for Information Science (SIS) in collaboration with CSIR's Unit for Research and Development of Information Products (URDIP) is conducting a four day Conference on "Recent trends in Patinformatics" from 9-12 Dec.2009. In addition, database and software vendors will conduct training programmes for the benefit of members.
Papers are invited from information and R&D professionals on various aspects of patinformatics such as new patent databases, software solutions, analytical case studies, reviews and discussion papers.
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