The Value Architect
We design the state in which decisions can be made.
In an age when anyone can obtain information, what separates value is what you ask and how you decide. We structure complex information about patents, technology and competitors, and connect it to the decisions your company makes. That is this role.
Why "Architect"
So the next move becomes a decision you can make.
With generative AI, anyone can gather information. But information alone decides nothing. The hard part is choosing the next move from what has been gathered.
Just as an architect draws the plans before construction, we structure complex information and frame the right questions, and connect it to the decisions your company makes. At IPX we call this ability value design. The Value Architect is the role dedicated to it.
Forward Deployed Attorney
We do not stop at sending a report.
Design does not finish at a desk. We go into your organization and work on site with you. We brought the forward deployed model, where engineers develop while embedded at the client, into the work of a patent attorney.
01 — Go in
As part of your team.
We join your business meetings and move at the speed of your decisions. Not an outside advisor, but your IP function itself, on site.
02 — Work on site
Designing on the spot.
Not a proposal document of general points. We draw the IP blueprint on site, fitted to the context of your technology and your business.
03 — Use tools
Building tools when needed.
On some matters we use tools such as AI and go as far as building small mechanisms that help with searching and management. What we build stays inside your organization as far as possible. AI is a tool. People decide. We do not change that order.
IP Strategy Design
Designing IP strategy
Before what to file, we start with what the invention is. We begin by digging out the value of technology that has not yet been put into words. We reframe the cost of IP from a cost of protecting to an investment that creates. Starting from where it works in the business, we rebuild how rights are built and in what order.
01
Invention mining and creation workshops
We dig out the seeds of inventions through dialogue with engineers and researchers. Realizing that even this can be patented produces the next invention.
02
IP landscape and competitor analysis
We read competitors' moves and the gaps in the market from patent information, and turn them into material for management decisions.
03
Filing portfolio design
In step with your business plan, we design which areas, in what order, and how far to build rights.
04
IP reporting to management
We translate IP activity into the language of management and report it in a form you can use for investment decisions.
05
IP and intangible asset governance
In line with the Cabinet Office Intellectual Property and Intangible Assets Governance
One Team Behind You
Behind the architect, a line-up of specialists.
No one draws the design alone. Two specialist teams stand behind the Value Architect.
SEARCH & ANALYSIS
Search and analysis specialists
Specialists in search and analysis who read prior art, IP landscapes and competitors' rights. They draw a precise map, the premise the design rests on. With AI, the volume, the range and the speed of what can be read have all changed.
See search and analysisMARKETING & BRANDING
Marketing and branding specialists
Specialists who turn rights into force in the market. They do not stop at protecting. They weave the brand and how to win in the market into the design.
How to Work With Us
As a retainer, as a one-off, or as a project.
The Value Architect does not depend on the form of the contract. You can design continuously in the consultation slot of a monthly retainer, run it as a project with a set theme and period, or ask for it as a one-off only when you need it. Whether design is needed is decided by the phase of the business, not by the type of contract.
The Journey
The range of our support
From before an invention is born to after you have won in the market. Every phase has a role that matches it.
PHASE 1
Before the invention
Invention mining, building the structure, choosing the areas. Design at the stage when nothing exists yet largely decides the outcome later.
PHASE 2
Filing and prosecution
We implement the rights along the blueprint.
PHASE 3
Using the rights
As material for licensing, partnerships and fundraising. We run rights as assets you can use.
PHASE 4
Winning in the market
Multiplied by brand and marketing, we build a shape that can compete in the market (handled by the Intangible Assets & Growth team).
Who It's For
Companies this suits
CASE 1
There is no IP department. Or it has only just been set up, and no one can judge where to start.
CASE 2
Management and IP are cut off from each other. You file, but it does not feel connected to business strategy.
CASE 3
You are confident in the technology. But what counts as the invention, and what the strength is, have not been put into words.