A new, innovative and marketable IP diagnosis to evaluate, qualify and find insights for the development of SMEs IP practices and use, based on the AIDA approach

As in our knowledge economy, intellectual assets represented by intellectual and industrial property and associated rights are of growing importance for companies, it is essential for them to be aware of what they own, how to manage these assets, what are their strengths and weaknesses related to those issues. This is why, through a European project co-financed by the European Commission, an action aimed at solving such issues has been taken. The first part of the work undertaken by this action is presented in this article. It consists in the development of an IP questionnaire, based on the adaptation of the marketing and sales AIDA model, allowing classifying IP practices and uses within a progressive scale. In order to get rapid understanding from companies, graphics that can be easily analyzed have been introduced. The originality of the methodology is that the AIDA classification used, gives the opportunity to classify a set of tools or services to be delivered in order to increase the IP practices and performance in companies. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.