4 Features R&D Teams Need in Their Patent Search Tool

Finding the right patent search tool for your R&D team is just like interviewing a job candidate. Selecting an AI-backed innovation discovery platform that fits your existing team requires thorough research. You want to know about their background, experience, and expertise. You’re interested in whether or not you can work alongside them and if they’re worth their desired salary.

These four questions can help you choose the right patent tool for your R&D team’s unique needs.

1. Does it have comprehensive coverage?

You need to know if your patent search tool’s database includes all of the patent and non-patent literature your organization needs to make data-backed decisions. Both quantity and quality are essential. Whether you’re performing prior art searches, patent landscape studies, or freedom to operate evaluations, your research should include as much relevant information as possible. Your innovation discovery tool’s coverage should include not only your core technologies but also parent technologies and affiliated sciences.

Having access to a lot of content isn’t enough; the sources must be credible as well. High-quality databases include up-to-date publications from government agencies and industry leaders worldwide.

2. Can it excel in your industry?

You expect a job candidate to have an understanding of your industry. Likewise, AI can be a huge asset to your discovery process, but only with the proper training. AI trained on data in your field is essential to its success. For engineers and scientists, a patent search tool trained on scientific and technical publications will likely provide the most benefit.

3. How can you take advantage of an AI partner?

AI excels at detail-oriented, time-sensitive tasks, allowing humans to take on more complex parts of the innovation process. Your AI-backed patent search tool should allow researchers and engineers to find and analyze relevant results more quickly.

The right tool not only returns search results; it will also offer a variety of perspectives from which to view and interpret those results. Value-added patent data analysis capabilities include visualization, mapping, and valuation. This symbiotic relationship between AI and humans leads to unexpected answers and actionable insights.

However, the potential benefits of patent search for engineers are only possible if the tool is intuitive. Natural language processing (NLP) powered by machine learning trained in your specific field offers relevant and valuable results from semantic searches. For even more powerful searches, combine Boolean operators with your natural language entry. The most helpful AI team members also offer a user-friendly interface with the ability to save, share, and export your search results.

4. Is it worth the investment?

Consider the benefits of the right patent search software in the hands of your R&D team: faster searches, comprehensive results, and collaboration potential. The right tool can both minimize operational costs and maximize the potential of your intellectual property. Using AI for innovation discovery allows engineers and researchers to:

• Gather competitive intelligence,
• Prioritize research investments,
• Create stronger patent applications, and
• Bring innovations to market faster.

Can your business afford to operate without the power of AI on your team?