Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/246988
How to License Section 3 The majority of successful licence marketing exercises are where there have been highly targeted marketing techniques applied by the licensor and where there has been a high understanding by the licensor of the likely economic benefits of its licence offering to particular firms. The executives in firms are sometimes just so busy with their existing business issues and demands upon their time, that unless proposals are extremely relevant and "hit the mark", they just will not get airtime. Accordingly, the approach from the prospective licensor must quickly establish where the licence would fit in the licensee's business e.g. the appropriate division or product range, and clarify the business benefits to the licensee. Where licensing is a particularly common and well-established means of acquiring technologies e.g. in the pharmaceutical industry, considerable knowledge of the licensee's business, together with the correct identification of the individuals responsible for licensing in, will be expected. Although many licences arise from active prospecting by firms themselves (i.e. demand-led), this can be hit-and-miss from your point-of-view. Many large firms will usually concentrate their efforts and prospecting on research institutions where they already have other substantial relationships (e.g. strategic partnerships) or where they have had previous successful experience of licensing-in from those institutions. This is because even the largest international firms have limited resources when it comes to hunting for IP in every research institution. So they have to select and focus on some to a certain extent. Some companies do employ dedicated professionals whose main or only job it is to bring in new and exciting IP. You should ask your IP commercialisation team members (or the agency they may be using) to let you know which firms have these licensing-in executives. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also ideal potential licensees because of their requirement to innovate frequently but these SMEs are difficult to identify in the first place and will not be as familiar with licensing as a way of developing their business, as much as the more well-known and larger firms. Hence an excellent network will be necessary to achieve a good shortlist of both large companies and SMEs to be approached. Licensing-out can be affected by industry cycles. For example, when firms, who rely on a strong patent portfolio to protect their products/sales, find that their patents are soon to expire, they tend to be more active in prospecting for external IP and more open/receptive to licensing-in. It is good to be aware of this as it may coincide with your exploitation of your IP. Your IP commercialisation organisation will be able to give you an idea of these industry trends. 17