For large corporations once a decision has been made to file a patent the next issue associated is the priority of the filing so the legal department and external counsel prosecution schedules can be managed. The “Filing Priority Matrix” figure uses anchored scales to tie the time urgency of IP Filings to the R&D completion status in a way that provides recommended filing priorities in appropriate time frames.

For companies that have many projects that are more technology development than commercial development, the “Qualitative Valuation and Prioritization Matrix” figure may be used to set the priorities.  The only issue with this matrix is that project team managers often argue that all their project have high applicability and market interest.  This matrix thus works best at the corporate level comprised of many business units.  When doing so the only caution on the other side of the coin is to make sure businesses slated for growth get the IP support they need to do so.