Benchmarking the Evolving Role of IP in Business Strategy

New KPMG Report Powered By LexisNexis Insights

The seventh edition of Protecting Value – The Intellectual Property Report of KPMG Law 2024/25 offers a detailed examination of how intellectual property departments are adapting to meet the challenges of digital transformation, cost efficiency, and strategic alignment.

Produced in collaboration with LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions, the report draws on data from over 180 companies worldwide to examine how IP teams are structured, how they allocate resources, and how technology is reshaping their roles.

This year’s report was supported by analysis from Dr. Carsten Guderian, Senior Project Leader, and Benjamin Hann, Director Commercial Strategy. Their analysis was used to support the conclusions in the report’s Qualitative Lens section. Using insights from patent analytics with LexisNexis^® PatentSight+™, the study addresses the relevance of IP in business strategy. It connects organizational choices such as insourcing, automation, and R&D alignment with measurable differences in patent quality and competitiveness.

Key takeaways from the 2024/25 strategy report

• IP as a strategic driver
  Intellectual property is increasingly viewed as a strategic function that supports innovation, market access, and growth. More than a third of IP leaders now report directly to board-level executives, highlighting the growing influence of IP in business decision-making. 79% of the surveyed IP departments already use IP analytics tools.
• Digitalization leads priorities
  Sixty percent of respondents said digital transformation is their top priority for 2025. Many departments are investing in AI, analytics, and workflow automation to improve efficiency and make better use of their data.
• Balancing insourcing and outsourcing
  On average, companies allocate 46% of IP costs internally and 54% externally. The analysis shows that organizations with higher levels of insourcing tend to achieve stronger patent quality scores.
• Quality over quantity
  Companies with leaner R&D-to-IP personnel ratios often produce higher-quality patents. Strong alignment between R&D and IP teams supports better invention selection and portfolio management.
• AI and efficiency
  The use of AI and automation has begun to replace traditional administrative support, enabling teams to manage growing workloads while maintaining high-quality outcomes. Among the 180+ companies that participated in the study, almost 80% of the IP teams responded that they are either already using or considering the use of AI tools in their workflows. While “Searches for relevant information” is named as the dominant AI use case (89%) in the report. Adoption goes far beyond the rudimentary use in drafting or searching. AI is now widely applied to competitor monitoring (85%), portfolio analysis (75%), and patent valuation (64%).

The LexisNexis contribution: adding a qualitative perspective

In addition to benchmarking structure, resources, and budgets, this year’s report includes a qualitative analysis evidenced by insights from patent analytics. Our contribution helped KPMG Law explore how IP impacts business strategy. Different management choices influence the quality and competitive strength of patent portfolios.

Highlights from the Qualitative Lens section include:

• Patent quality growth across regions
  Patent quality indicators have increased in key markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland. This trend suggests a renewed focus on strategic, high-value innovation.
• The R&D connection
  Organizations with a lower R&D employees to patent professional ratio tend to achieve higher-quality portfolios. This reflects closer collaboration between innovation and IP teams, as well as a stronger focus on the quality of inventions.
• The impact of insourcing
  Companies that perform a larger share of IP work internally continue to show higher average patent quality and technology relevance scores. These organizations also tend to build broader market coverage and more influential portfolios.

A data partnership that brings clarity to innovation

KPMG Law’s continued partnership with LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions demonstrates how reliable patent data and transparent analytics can enhance the value of IP in business strategy. The Protecting Value report is exemplary evidence of combining traditional benchmarking with a clearer view of innovation quality, helping organizations understand not only how much they innovate, but how effectively.

Read the full report here: Protecting Value – The Intellectual Property Report of KPMG Law 2024/25

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*according to Protecting Value – The Intellectual Property Report of KPMG Law 2024/25