For R&D organizations a useful IP process is to track the creation and development of IP as part of the R&D stage/gate process.  The “Integrated Stage Gate and IP Actions / Processes” figure shows how intellectual assets and intellectual property activities are coordinated as a business/technical project moves towards commercialization.  For the purposes of this figure the stages are defined as:

Concept Stage: Conduct initial investigation of an idea to establish its potential to meet current/future market needs and assure it is aligned with the sponsoring business or corporate growth strategic plan.

Feasibility Stage: Confirm that the technical concept is doable and develop one or more business model options.

Prototype Stage: Select and demonstrate the best technical product/process option on a scale which meets all critical performance parameters and select the most compelling business option.

Development Stage: Complete technical scale up activities and finalize the product/process design.  Reconfirm the market fit, finalize offering, and update business plan.   If applicable, commercialize offering to selected customers to validate the business model under commercial conditions with X customers for at least Y months.   Finalize business plan.

Commercialization Stage: Execute Business Plan to maximize return, measure performance against plan, capture learning to feedback to CIO process.