Written by IAM
Which aspect of your work do you find most rewarding?
I have worked in intellectual property for nearly 20 years, covering all parts of the IP lifecycle as a service provider, in-house manager and consultant. I have always liked having access to various IP data sets and tools. In my current role, I enjoy bolstering IP analytics and addressing gaps within the IP industry by combining diverse data sets and associated technologies. In this way, I can create a one-stop shop for my customers, with access to the data sets and tools that they need to gather actionable insights.
As a product strategist, I collect client and market insights throughout the product lifecycle; I am challenged to address everything from ideation through to management and evolution of the product. I enjoy this part of my role because it keeps me close to the action, both internally within the organisation and externally within the industry.
How do you use automation tools to assist clients and foster innovation within your practice?
We have used fuzzy logic-based self-learning algorithms and database technologies to create an IP data lake that is fully connected to diverse data sets such as firmographics, financials, ownership groups, valuations, litigations, licensing and transactions.
This has enabled our clients to push the boundaries of their craft by conducting analysis that combines technology and innovation insights with detailed ownership, transactions and valuation information.
Which emerging technologies are currently having the biggest impact on your clients and how is this shaping your practice?
AI and green energy-related technologies are having the most impact within tech-driven industries, and they will likely continue to be the key focus areas for at least the next decade. AI cuts through various areas of application from pharmaceuticals and telecommunications to automobiles and aerospace. Green energy-related technologies will revolutionise everything from how day-to-day electronic gadgets are powered to the fundamentals of the automobile and aviation industries. Further, green energy innovation trends are closely followed because of immediate need due to the climate crisis, as well as their socio-economic impact.
As a result of both their scope of impact and early stage in the lifecycle, these technologies attract considerable interest. Technology firms, academics, governments and institutional investors all want to analyse the quantity and quality of these technologies and understand any IP trends, and they look to Moody’s Analytics to help advance their learning.
How do you build trust and understanding with clients to ensure that they make the most informed decisions?
Corporations, academics, governments, intelligence agencies, patent offices and financial institutions across the globe trust us because of our long legacy of meeting their IP needs. We have pioneered the data aggregation business model to cater to global customers and their complex requirements and continue to add value by combining and connecting diverse data sets over the decades since our firm was founded. Our data is sourced from 180 leading data providers, and we pair it with analytic tools that help our clients be both more efficient and more effective in identifying and managing IP assets. Our standardised formats for global data sets, and our powerful analytics and alerting systems, enable clients to gain the highest-quality fully connected data sets. Having a customer-centric approach to data quality and product strategy has empowered our clients to realise their full potential of timely insights that enhance the quality of their decision making.
If you could make one change to the patent scene in Europe, what would it be and do you expect it to happen?
The protection of ideas through patents in Europe is skewed to a small proportion of Western European countries. EPO filings reveal that nearly 90% of patents filed in 2019 came from only 10 states in the European Union.
This uneven distribution is not because of a lack of invention, but rather a lack of awareness of the importance of IP rights. This can be improved by empowering individual inventors and incentivising start-up firms to seek IP protection. Education within the less IP-intensive regions through data-driven patent evaluation and commercialisation methods would have a significant impact on the perception of IP rights. Empowering inventors and start-ups with education and awareness - alongside data and tools - would help to close the IP filing gaps between Eastern and Western Europe.
Innovation protection is bound to increase at a slow pace over the next few years and we are already observing increased IP activity in a few of these jurisdictions, but when the unitary patent system is in place, this will provide a much-required boost over the coming years.
Santhosh Metri
Director – Product Strategy
Santhosh Metri is a director at Moody’s Analytics, focusing on product strategy for intellectual property, M&A and foreign direct investment solutions. He has a graduate degree in software engineering, a master’s from Manchester Business School and an LLM from the University of Strasbourg. Mr. Metri works on product innovation, concentrating on provisioning specialised and connected IP datasets for Big Data analytics. He specialises in IP strategy and portfolio management, IP commercialisation, brand protection and management.
