#reflectandlearn February 2024
Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer
Director IP Management Training CEIPI | Chairman DIN77006 | Director Research Programms IP Business Academy
My personal review of the last month. #reflectandlearn is a powerful way to grow yourself, and I'm happy to share that with the community. Here I reflect on the experiences, successes, failures of the last month and what I have learned in the process. I give insights into the work with my partners, the decisions I have made. What made me think, what connections I made, what new paths emerged, and what doors I opened for myself or others. In the future, this will come every month – if you are interested.
This #reflectandlearn has the following chapters:
?? My highlights of the month
?? People I've leaned from this month
?? My social media learning of the month
?? The decision of the month
?? That got me thinking
?? Topics I've read about
?? Technologies and people
?? My highlights of the month
CTO meeting at WILO at the invitation of the CTO ?? Georg Weber
Like many others, I sit in front of my computer at home practically every day, in my self-created "New Work reality". A meeting with CTOs in Dortmund at Wilo Group is a real highlight. I have known the CTO Georg Weber since 2012, when he took on this task, and the Head of IP ?? Matthias Rabbe for a similar length of time. IP has developed into a strategic instrument at the company and when the R&D boss ?? Dr. Joerg Praczyk presents the IP strategy and how it contributes to the company's sustainability goals, the meeting is a real pleasure. WILO's unbroken success shows that it is also doing a lot right when it comes to IP. I am looking forward to an update of our case study from 2017. At that time it was under the CTO ?? Markus Beukenberg , the case study with the Stratos Maxo won the 2018 German Innovation Prize of the Rat für Formgebung - German Design Council :
We were invited by ?? Nico Michels Siemens Digital Industries Software to Erlangen to their Industry 4.0 showcase factory, maybe then I can?do an IP management case study then with ?? Beat Weibel for the industrial metaverse. ?? Oliver Gürtler from 微软 invited us to Munich in their Centre Europe. In these highly dynamic times, you can't learn enough about the needs and challenges of the industry.
Case study project in Norway and Austria (finally) started with ?? Maria Boicova-Wynants and ?? Max Link
I've been working on this for a very long time (three years??). Unfortunately, a PhD student gave up on her PhD project last year and I had to completely reset the format, but now it has finally started ??. On the recommendation of ?? Felipe Aguilera-B?rresen from Innovasjon Norge , Maria is working on a case study on Laerdal Medical in Norway and Outdooractive (Thanks to the founder ?? Hartmut Wimmer ) in Germany. What I am particularly pleased about is the promise of a greeting note for the Norwegian case study by the President of the Patentstyret - Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) ?? Kathrine Myhre (thanks for visiting our master program in Strasbourg last year) - here is this case study program explained from Maria:
These case studies are incredibly important to understand how good the companies are at IP management and what needs, what expertise, what resources they need.
New format on the IP Business Academy blog: "The IP expert behind the case study" this time with Connect One Digital AG and ?? Bastian Best
In November last year, we presented a case study (together with I3PM International Institute for Intellectual Property Management ) with the EPO's High-growth technology business community initiative (thanks to ?? Thomas Bereuter, CLP from the European Patent Academy for the long standing cooperation and to ?? Matthew Wahlrab and ?? 何万兴 from Singapore - both are I3PM Commttee Chairs):? Connect One (thanks to ?? Thomas Nieraad - founder of connect one):
What is always neglected, however, are the experts who make such case st
udies possible in the first place – in this case my highly valued cooperation partner ?? Bastian Best ?– and we have developed a new format for this: The IP expert behind the case study:
Thanks to Bastian for his enormous expertise and personal commitment to make this case exist at all. I am very happy that ?? Poorti Joshi started her engagement yesterday as part of the Global IP Management Experience cooperation program of the IP Business Academy – post about this will follow. Thanks Poorti for the cooperation and we look forward to more "experts behind the case studies".??
Feedback from ?? Maik Manthey , SVP Global Engineering Technology on the training at Claas
I've worked a lot with CLAAS , and we also have a joint case study on IP management. Claas is one of the world's leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery – best known for its impressive combine harvesters. At the end of last year, we held a training course on the topic of "Patenting Digital Use Cases and Business Models":
I have now received great feedback from Maik, which is in the post. Thank you Maik!
Feedback from ?? Isabelle Hochberger , Co-Founder of Dr.Q
Dr. Q is a startup for AI-powered FEM simulations and we had training on patenting such topics. I work a lot with startups and I was very happy about the great feedback from Isabelle (in the post about training). This is a great team and a great topic – you will hear a lot more about Dr. Q.
Invention Harvesting at MIPLM in Strasbourg with Robert Klinski
That was a great evening, Robert gave his dinner speech in the oldest building in Strasbourg – you can see it nicely on the photo, it looks like "Middle Ages":
I'm working with Robert on Invention Harvesting. He wants to help companies generate inventions more easily, faster and, above all, more systematically – in my experience working with industry, this makes total sense and we have a good response from company representatives. I learned how to do it that evening in Strasbourg – summary can be found in the blog post.
?? People I've learned from this month
Patenting AI-generated inventions - ?? Dr. Malte K?llner, patent attorney Dr. Malte K?llner, patent attorney
I've known Malte for ages. I recommend him again and again as a patent attorney and we are currently working on the topic of patenting AI-generated inventions. He had the feeling much earlier than I did that this would become very relevant system-wide, and he was right. That's how he started the DABUS project years ago. In our interviews and from his videos, I have already learned a lot about this specific challenge. He is already excellently positioned on this topic through our channels and has also been a lecturer in my master's program at CEIPI for many years. We are currently in the process of approaching companies to discuss the challenges of patenting AI-generated solutions so that he can contribute as an expert – a very exciting project.?
AI-supported research for FTO of digital business models - ?? Stefan Brehm Stefan Brehm
Working with Stefan is great because he approaches the topic of patent information and search in such a reflective way. In addition, he is a true connoisseur and practitioner in the application of AI to analyze patent literature. For example, companies are currently having huge problems getting a grip on the flood of patents that digital business models are facing. They've been familiar with the established physical business areas for decades – but now it's going digital and suddenly you're inundated with patent literature. Stefan can use his AI tool to tackle this problem systematically. We have also been working together with the first technology company on IP risk management in the transition to digital components in the business model. I have already learned a lot about the practical use of AI tools for patent literature from him, which is a great learner journey for me in the last few weeks.???
Software patents of US and Asian companies in Europe - ?? Stefan Müller Stefan Müller
I learned from Stefan that US and Asian companies in Europe have characteristically poor grant rates for their digital and software patents and that they are far from operating with optimal applications before the EPO. He has worked out the very specific deficits and I am very happy that with Stefan we can also help companies in these regions of the world to professionalize themselves even further in IP. Stefan is a very fine and precise thinker and every conversation is an enrichment for me. In particular, the different patentability requirements between the USPTO and the EPO must be understood in order to be able to provide valuable help with this phenomenon. This was a super-interesting live interview:
?AI-aided Inventing - ?? H Hannes Burger Hannes Burger and ?? Daniel Holzner
I have known Hannes Burger for a very long time and am very grateful that he came to me in Strasbourg two years ago to act as an assessor for the Master's examinations, together with ?? Florian Adt COO & General Counsel at Mercedes-Benz AG Intellectual Property, ?? Ari T. Hirvonen ?Head of IP at Outokumpu , ?? Lars-Fredrik Urang Director Patent Department at Onsagers AS : ?
?? https://ipbusinessacademy.org/patentability-of-digital-business-models-the-6th-module-of-the-miplm
These are great opportunities to exchange ideas and learn from the industry over lunch. The collaboration with ABP PATENT NETWORK GmbH twork is super-exciting, where I work in particular with Holzner, from whom I learned a lot about the application of AI in the invention process last month. Ultimately, patent literature is used to generate specific inventions. The companies to which we present this are very impressed and some are downright enthusiastic.????
Misconceptions about AI among IP practitioners - ?? Sebastia Sebastian Goebel Goebel
I got to know Sebastian through Bastian Best. I'm very happy that Sebastian helped me build the Committee for AI & IP and find these other great Committee Chairs Ekene Chuks-Okeke and Chaani Srviastava – a great group! Working with Sebastian, I learned a lot about some deep-seated misconceptions of IP practitioners about AI and he also wrote his own blog post about it at the IP Business Academy.
At the moment it is exciting to look with Sebastian for experts who want to work with him in the law firm. Highly interesting conversations with patent engineers and I think Sebastian's law firm is a very good place to live his IP expertise.?
?? My social media learning of the month
Topical Authority
In one of the Youtube channels I follow, I learned the concept of "Topical Authority". Google itself is also very explicit about this:
Ultimately, it comes down to the question of whether you appear as high as possible in Google's organic search for certain keywords such as "software patent" or "patent attorney for mechanical engineering in Austria". There are rules and a lot of practice on how to achieve this. When I worked with the law firms and IP experts, I noticed that hardly anyone knows this concept or has built their own websites according to SEO criteria and therefore the IP experts rank very poorly in organic search on Google. I've been planning a portal for some time now, where IP experts can get more visibility in the online world. I'll talk about that when I'm a little further along with this project.
??? The Decision of the Month
Speed in the Creator Economy 2024
I listen to the podcast "Baby got Business" from ?? Ann-Katrin Schmitz quite regularly:
And at the turn of the year, it was about the assessments of the development in the creator economy for the year 2024 (we are talking about a 100 billion US$ industry worldwide) – I heard the episode on a walk at the beginning of February and one thing became clear to me: ?I have to become faster?. I am surrounded by incredibly slow institutions with which I cooperate, such as patent offices, institutions of national innovation systems, universities, but often also industrial companies, and I don't want to be paralyzed anymore – by their institutional leisureliness. I have to find a way to act out of myself and pick up more speed – no one is waiting for me and the world has never been as fast as it is today and will never change as slowly as it does today – reminder to myself!??
领英推荐
?? That got me thinking
Authenticity on the Internet: AI-Generated Influencers and News Anchors
I had already reported some time ago about AI-generated influencers on various platforms such as Instagram, such as ?? Emily Pellegrini (this is an AI and not a human, therefore no ?? for "her"?– although I've learned):
And then I got? a hint from ?? Henry K.H. Wang from Hong Kong, Committee Chair of I3PM International Institute for Intellectual Property Management , that in China there are AI-generated news anchors in the local news:
This led to a discussion with ?? Andreas S?tre Hanssen from Norway about the authenticity of people on the Internet and brands. I am very critical of this rampant obsession with authenticity on the Internet. Ultimately, brands, companies and people always present a kind of "ideal image" of themselves and not what they "really" are. The problem with this is that you are under constant pressure to optimize yourself even further. I believe that it would be much better if the demand for authenticity on the Internet were dealt with in a more playful way.?
?? Topics I've learned about
Facbook was 20 years old
I listen to every single episode of the podcast "Back to the Future" by ?? Alexander Braun and ?? Agnieszka M. Walorska ????
They pointed out in episode #254 that Facebook turned 20 years old in February and that for many people, social media has become an issue in their lives. A small university project has grown into a mega-hype. Currently, 3 billion people log in to Facebook. By the way, LinkedIn was founded in December 2002 by Reid Hoffmann in Mountain View, California. I've been on LinkedIn since 2019 and I can't imagine my professional life without SoMe. My learning: SoMe has become a business in its own right, which you have to take seriously – it's here to stay.????
The new format by ?? Chris Christian Metzger Christian Metzger and ?? Bast Bastian Best Bastian Best : Digital Patent Detectives
Bastian is simply a social media genius! I've been working with him for so long and I can still learn something. He has helped me a lot as a board member at I3PM and he supports the learning about the use of social media for IP professionals. So now something new with – a neighbor of mine, so to speak – who, like Bastian, also specializes in digital patents, has been a partner in the law firm Gr?ttinger M?hring von Poschinger in Starnberg since this year. On February 20th, the two of them did a great live event on LinkedIn:
They talked about a 三星电子 robot patent and explained how to patent a software algorithm in Europe. This was fantastically well done – perfect IP awareness building.
Reader-centricity at the BBC with ?? Dmitr Dmitry Shishkin Shishkin
I listen to the podcast "Subscribe Now" by ?? Lennart Schneider very regulary:
I've heard about the BBC's project on User Needs. In other words, when the BBC introduced its digital content, it asked itself the question: "what do people actually want to read"? (maybe a bit late – they're 102 years old? But better late than never ?!). Six user needs came out of this:
1. Update me – what happens currently
2. Keep me on trend – deeper understanding of ongoing developments
3. Educate me – in-depth knowledge about a specific topic or issue.
4. Give me perspective – different viewpoints and insights into a complex issue.
5. Inspire me – experience of positive emotions and stories that uplift
6. Divert me – to escape from daily stresses and find entertainment
I then analysed across all our channels blog, newsletter, LinkedIn feed, Youtube whether we were addressing these reader needs and was very pleased to see that we were doing this - without having ?known it? - but it is also a reminder: Always think about the users!
?? Technologies and people I've learned about
NVIDIA wants to develop custom chips
It's very exciting to watch this strategic competition between 英伟达 and the big tech companies. Right now, the big techs rely on NVIDIA chips to keep their AI models running. Which massively boosts NVIDIA's stock market value. I had reported on this:
At the same time, the big techs announced that they would develop their own chips:
And a short time later, NVIDIA announced that it wanted to develop individual chips for special customers:
It's an incredibly clever move. In this way, NVIDIA can open up new markets that would not be possible with standard products, the company can increase its revenue, and it takes the wind out of the sails of the Big Techs to invest in their own chips. Chapeau ?? Jens Jensen Huang Jensen Huang once again a brilliant move!
Google brings ChatGPT rival into the race with Gemini
Gemini Advanced and Gemini Ultra on February 8. I work with this AI tool from Google Deep Mind on a daily basis and am regularly overwhelmed by its capabilities.
I've gotten paid access to Gemini Advanced, and I'm using it to write lectures, prepare posts, familiarize myself with various client topics – it's just fantastic. The multimodality doesn't work for songs yet, but the precision and speed is even better for my needs at the moment than with Microsoft's Copilot or ChatGPT. I am pleased to be able to cooperate with both companies. Here's our Hansgrohe case study on Google - thanks to make happen ?? Wieland Holfelder ????? :
And here is the AI forum with 微软 – thanks to Andre Kiehne for making this possible (and all the best for your new passion project decode.forward with Johannes Oberhofer ):
?OpenAI has unveiled Sora?
Sora was introduced at the same time as Gemini and stole the show from Google's AI a bit – certainly another marketing gimmick by Sam Altman – it wasn't a coincidence. The "sharability" of videos is simply higher than the confrontation with a new language model. But Sora is really incredibly good – a text-to-video AI model with incredible capabilities:
The thing isn't available to the public yet, but as soon as it is, I'm going to try it out and use it for educational purposes. We already work a lot with Synthesia , here is an example of an AI-generated educational video:?
This works very well – just think of the effort involved in finding speakers, editing video material, etc. For our educational video production for the European Patent Office alone, we involved over 150 lecturers worldwide. Sora will be a game-changer, also in the creation of footage for IP awareness.
Jens Polomski and Ritchie Pettauer?
I listen very regularly to the German podcast "Digitale Vorreiter:innen" by ?? Christoph Burseg :
And there, in the last episodes I've listened to – usually while preparing lunch, or on the ergometer – a highly interesting personality was introduced, whom I now follow on LinkedIn:
?? Dr. Teo Pham
He is an AI expert and can really explain the AI topics very clearly and comprehensibly for me as a former physicist. I always like to listen to him when he shows up on some podcast – which he does regularly.
In the podcast "Social Media Schanck" by ?? Thorsten Ising
Episode #111 I learnd about
?? Rit Ritchie Pettauer Ritchie Pettauer
I heard it and connected with him right away. I've been able to learn a lot about content marketing, content strategy, and digital marketing. These are topics that are incredibly important for awareness building for IP and I have already learned a lot through the newsletter and listening to him.
So, these were my reflections and learnings from February 2024. I would be happy to share the findings with you again in four weeks under #learnandreflect. And I hope not so much happens in March so that the #learnandreflect will be as long.
Best regards,
Alex
Managing Director @ PATENTSHIP Patent Attorneys | PhD in Telecommunications | German & European Patent Attorney | UPC Representative | 20+ Years experience in generating valuable Digital Tech IP
8 个月Thank you Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer for the wonderful evening in Strasbourg and for our conversations. I have learned a lot as well!
International Author, Advisor & Speaker
8 个月Thanks Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer for your insightful reflections. Thanks for mentioning our sharing that in China there are AI-generated news anchors in some local TV news channels. Enjoyed discussing how these AI development can impact authenticity, innovation, SDG & ESG developments globally? I3PM International Institute for Intellectual Property Management
Founder & CEO @ decode.forward | Executive Coach | Advisory Board Member | Investor | Author |?ex-Microsoft
8 个月what a great reflection Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer! What incredible journey Rudolf-Diesel-Medaille and Microsoft shaped together! Looking very much forward to the positive impact we generate together with the new industry advisory board around "humans and technology"
Founding Partner at B?sherz Goebel | Patent Attorney | AI&IP Committee Co-Chair I3PM | Protecting IP in a Digital World
8 个月Thank you Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer for the mention - especially of our Committee work at I3PM International Institute for Intellectual Property Management with great co-chairs I??l Selen Deneme?, LL.M. Ekene Chuks-Okeke and Chaani Srivastava. Very exciting work and I hope we can provide some helpful overview of these rapidly developing #AI topics. Exciting times...
?? Teaching the Art of LinkedIn?? ?? 3x3 Hands-on Trainings for Marketing & Sales teams?? Associate Lecturer @ Univ. of Vienna ?? B2B-Ads & Sales Navigator Expert ?? Speaker ??Follow for daily insights ?? ??
8 个月Thanks a lot, Alexander - I feel honored! Like your Reflect & Learn format a lot. Great curation format.