Patent Analytics

Patent analytics: searching and researching technologies

Patent analytics is the systematic work with documents describing technical solutions: searching, selecting, organizing and interpreting them. It helps researchers and companies understand how technologies evolve, compare development areas and track the activity of market players. The HSE IPAA program teaches methods that turn a large body of publications into clear analytical material and make conclusions well-founded and verifiable. HSE IPAA's partner in intellectual property is FIPS, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FGBU FIPS).

Why study patent information

Patent publications contain technical descriptions, drawings, applicant details and other data valuable for research. But a list of retrieved documents does not by itself answer the question posed by a business or a research team. You need to define the subject of the analysis, choose sources, separate relevant solutions from random matches and explain the result. The course is dedicated to exactly this chain: task, search, conclusions.

How a patent search is built

The work starts with a research question. Next come the key concepts, synonyms, technical features and the relevant patent classification codes. The search strategy takes into account the time frame, geography and the required depth of research. In class we look at how to refine queries: wording that is too narrow misses important documents, while wording that is too broad returns a lot of noise. Recording queries and criteria makes the search reproducible.

What the program covers

Six modules: patent information basics, search strategy, data selection and preparation, analysis of technology areas, visualization, and report preparation. Eighteen topics take you from reading a single publication to working with a body of documents. Patent families, deduplication and normalization of applicant names are covered separately, as they directly affect the quality of the final tables and charts.

Patent landscapes and data analysis

A patent landscape presents the field under study through selected indicators: publication trends, groups of technical solutions, applicants and the geography of activity. In the course we learn to choose indicators for a specific task and avoid unfounded generalizations, to group information and to compare samples. Every visualization must have clear labels, source references and an explanation of what exactly the data show.

Who the course is for

Intellectual property specialists, researchers, engineers, analysts and staff of innovation departments. The program is also useful for technology project leaders and entrepreneurs who need to understand the information basis for development decisions. You will need computer skills, web search skills and experience with spreadsheets. If you have a professional task of your own, it will help you connect the course to your industry.

What an analytical report should look like

A good report states the research objective and describes the sources, the search methodology, the criteria for including documents and the results of the analysis. Tables and charts reveal patterns, and the text explains their significance for the task at hand. A mandatory part is a description of limitations: an incomplete sample, differences in data, and questions the research does not cover. The program teaches you to build a chain of evidence from the source publication to the final conclusion.

Fees and enrollment

The program comprises 150 academic hours. Current fees and upcoming dates are listed on the course card and in the Schedule. To discuss the terms of study, submit a request on the website or contact us. Tell us your position, technology area and the tasks you want to solve with patent data so that the conversation about the program is specific. On completion, participants receive an HSE IPAA certificate of completion.