White Spot Analysis

There are more than 60,000 patent applications in Germany alone every year. You involuntarily ask yourself how it is possible to maintain an overview. The White Spot Analysis not only helps you to find the “white spots” on the “map” of the “patent landscape”, but there is more to it than that: It is a method by which you can initiate innovations more easily.

Let’s take a concrete look at the service we offer using the White Spot Analysis: There are more than 60,000 patent applications in Germany alone every year. You involuntarily ask yourself how it is possible to maintain an overview. The White Spot Analysis not only helps you to find the “white spots” on the “map” of the “patent landscape”, but there is more to it than that: It is a method by which you can initiate innovations more easily.

Let’s take a concrete look at the service we offer using the White Spot Analysis:

In a first step we can find out whether a solution for your existing technical problems already exists. For this purpose, our national and international researchers, with whom we have been working successfully for years, search through both the scientific specialist literature and the relevant patent applications. This is not a purely statistical procedure using an algorithm. The databases only reveal their secrets if an expert chooses the right search strategies or search terms. Only then will a search on a meta database that includes over 200 other databases lead to convincing results. Having the necessary specialist knowledge, experience and intelligence, humans are in this case still way ahead of pure AI.

With this type of analysis, you can also gain the important information, where “white spots” on the patent landscape can be found, which can then be closed through your own research.

The main benefit of the method we developed is that we offer innovation workshops, during which we work with you to determine which particularly promising developments your research department should focus on. We moderate this creative process to identify the problems which have to be solved and the tasks which have to be done to bring greatest success to your company. Therefore, both the general situation (market, state of technology) and your individual specifics (strategic orientation of the R&D department, synergies, free resources, financial strength, etc.) are taken into account.

The innovation workshops imitate the process of a patent application in condensed form. It is about focusing the expertise and creativity of your employees to create real innovation. This method has proven to be very effective because it is an excellent way of structuring and recording the results. After a phase of open discussion with your developers, the suggestions are put into concrete terms and refined in an iterative process until a manageable number of ideas is available. Those are then subjected to the research process described above. In the end there are a few, but particularly promising innovations that are fixed in the form of so-called “Provisionals” (preliminary patent applications). This is often the first step towards a real patent application!

Experience shows that White Spot Analysis can be of great help to research departments in all sectors. The best results are obtained if other specialists – such as IP professionals or marketing specialists – also attend these innovation workshops.

Get rid of the image of the patent attorney as a pure legal advisor and instead use his expertise to strengthen the innovative strength of your company!