May, 2010

We generally hear of a large variety of management concepts from management gurus and also come across different curriculum being taught at renowned B-schools all over the world. Some of these Management courses include subjects on Finance, Production, Marketing, Financial Risk, Human Resource and so on. However, we seldom come across any management institute teaching or talking about Intangible Wealth Management (IWM). So is the case with various types of IP consultancy firms all around the world which provide a wide range of IP services including Filing, Prosecution, Registration and Litigation for different kinds of IPRs including Patent, Trademark, Copyright, Designs etc. It is very difficult to find one stop solution for the entire range of IP services which are required for IWM under one roof.

ITAG Team has had several occasions to meet various groups of people including scientists at the research institutions, the CEO's and CFO's of various Corporate Houses and also with the Bankers. Everyone took it by surprise on hearing the whole range of IP services and the concept of IWM from the stage of conceiving an idea at the research laboratory up to the stage of commercialization of the invention and technology transfer. IWM includes innovation process management, technology landscaping, competitive intelligence analysis, issues relating to accounting, valuation, taxation of IP, licensing and commercialization, IP due diligence on transfer of technology for joint ventures, collaboration, mergers and acquisitions including IP risk analysis, IP collateralization and securitization and development of IP policy, IP strategy and IP manual for different research based innovative organization.

Generally, a Banker looks at the balance sheet of the potential borrower and the project report while providing any credit facilities. They generally do not look at the intangible wealth of the company in the form of technology, brand and other IP assets being industrial designs, copyrights and other intangibles. Thus the net worth of the company as represented by the tangible assets becomes the major source for appraisal and for setting the limit for lending money. Various factors involving the ownership of the technology, whether it is owned by the enterprise or is licensed to it or is in public domain and the associated IP risk involved for likely infringement for violation of IP belonging to others are generally not taken into consideration. Similarly, the securitization and collateralization is also limited to the tangible income and assets.

However, in today's knowledge based economy, the role of technology and its evaluation cannot be denied and it needs proper attention by the Bankers not only at the time of fresh sanction of loans but also during the stages of renewals of credit facilities and also while resorting to recovery proceedings for Non-Performing Assets (NPA's). We have come across several cases referred to Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on the basis of erosion of net worth consisting of tangible wealth alone and by ignoring value of intangible wealth which may be multiple times more than the book value of tangible assets which may fetch a good value, if sold in the open market.

Therefore, it is being increasingly felt necessary that the B-schools need to revise their curriculum under the guidance of AICTE in collaboration with Indian Patent Office (IPO) and with cooperation of Department of Science and Technology and introduce specific courses on IWM. The courses on IWM may include the subject on the invention, innovation, commercialization, accounting, valuation, risk analysis, collateralization and securitization and the issues relating to technology transfer that will enlighten the Corporate Educatives and Bankers about the importance of IPRs.

ITAG together with its knowledge partner Institute of International Trade (IITRADE) is fully equipped for providing consultancy and training for Intangible Wealth Management (IWM) as part of its drive for one stop end to end solution for the whole range of IP Services.