
Part of the mix
To get a full picture, however, it’s equally important to look back and understand what’s happening during the ideation or the initial stages of technology development, Signals’ Data Strategy Director Omer Kehat explains. And that’s where patent data comes in. “Patents are a great way to help us identify early trends or technology advancements that could be potentially significant to our customers. Including that data in our platform is very important.”
Connecting the data dots
Predictive power
Taking technology out of the equation
Seeing the full picture
Exporting all that data from the LexisNexis system was labour intensive. That’s why Signals switched to the LexisNexis® IPDD solution, which enabled them to integrate the complete set of raw data that LexisNexis accumulates into their system. Despite the many technical implications, this was a conscious choice. “As a company, we claim to be able to ‘see the full picture’,” Kehat says. “That’s why our tool is great for picking up on early signals. If we chose a system that didn’t cover everything there is to know about patents, including some niche categories and patents from smaller companies, it would debunk our claim. LexisNexis has the largest dataset when it comes to patents, so the choice was obvious.”
Patent data is a key part of a predictive model, Gershoni concludes. “If you want to compare your products with your competitors’, there’s no other option than to look at the patents of all the companies involved. If you combine patent data with sales numbers and the sentiment in the market – for example, what’s being said about you – it provides a complete and accurate picture of your position in the market. It’s a superior model that tells you: are you in the right place? Are you running any risks? Is your position stagnating? Patent data is one of the most important signals to pick up on, if you want to determine the value of your business.”
Omer Kehat: “If we want to collect all patents on food, we identify four or five relevant Customs Procedure Codes to determine the full picture of relevant patents. After that, we use the text, title and abstract of the patent to do everything else. We assign the patents to the right segment, so in dairy you know which patents are assigned to milk and which to yoghurt or cheese. And then we use the text to identify those specific product attributes or product claims that might also be mentioned. So, if a patent is about a new formula that has specific digestive benefits, it may fall under “digestive health,” which could also include other types of products that make similar claims. This helps us to create those connections and see which technologies are present in different products and how those products are claiming these technologies.”

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