20 ways that IP is igniting high growth and anchoring its value in 2026/27
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
IP leaders of today and tomorrow share their real-life insights into how ventures are making the right – and wrong – calls in turning their IP into a high-growth asset
For ventures scaling in 2026/27, at least 80 percent of their future value is ultimately going to rest on their intellectual property, if all goes to plan. Yet it’s a far from certain outcome, says the 2026/27 edition of Winning with IP.
Time and again, IP can appear strong on paper but unravel at different points through the growth cycle. No one size or shape of solution fits all. It varies for each venture, depending on how the principals find the right combination of IP to give themselves freedom to operate, the leverage to negotiate, the framework to collaborate, the strength to hold their ground and the flexibility to pivot.
In this book, IP leaders of today and tomorrow draw on real-life commercial scenarios to map out how ventures can make the right calls to turn their IP into a high-growth asset with the capacity to double or triple in value, not just once, but repeatedly.
For Audrey Yap, co-founder of the High Growth Technology Business Initiative and lead expert on the WIPO’s recent Asean IP valuation project, it is: ‘a timely, practical companion to the complexities of fully extracting value from IP activities … it speaks in a language that founders understand: outcomes, options and trade-offs’.
For the head of Innovate UK’s ICURe regional hub in London and the South East, Ed Cole, ‘this book is really valuable for the next wave of tech ventures, in making clear how IP turns their ideas into growth and impact in a way that is easy – and interesting – to follow’.
For an expert in sustainable brands, Marie Vandersanden at TourismLawyers, ‘it compellingly illustrates that IP should not be viewed as an isolated legal discipline, but rather as an integral component of growth strategies, investor logic, scalability and technological innovation’.
Highlights of the 2026/27 edition include:
European deep tech ventures might be surging in number, but it’s the commercial logic of their IP that will determine whether they scale.
In south-east Asia, moves are being made to embed IP into lending practices to SMEs.
AI can help draft pitches, but what counts is the IP decisions that founders and owners make for themselves.
No one size fits all: for those, who find the right combination of IP, it can make a profitable exit twice as likely.
IP strategy is the telescope that puts a venture one step ahead at each point of its development, whether it’s market entry, funding or partnerships.
Investors are looking for a stack of IP that captures a unique selling point.
Early on, claims are phrased broadly to allow for transfer to other domains. Later, for durability, claims cover more specific uses.
Eight questions determine when to pursue patents or trade secrets.
As an innovation comes to market, it may rebrand itself to reflect users’ expectations more closely.
Investors value IP as a fallback if plan A fails, so it often makes sense to hold IP in a separate holding company.
Too often IP portfolios carry more cost and complexity than a lean approach would justify.
An early hire of an IP manager often becomes fundamental to a venture’s growth.
A lack of transparency is where most IP strategies fail: decisions are best made as a 360⁰ between research and legal, marketing and production.
False starts are almost inevitable with transformative technologies: it’s IP that determines whether they can pivot
Late entry is no barrier to innovation: second and third movers can have a significant advantage if they can navigate the IP landscape
Nearly everybody is innovating with AI, but IP in technical solutions or business models is hard to secure if it’s treated like the holy grail: instead break down to where AI is adding value.
In the age of personalised medicine, developers are gaining more scope to develop into principals in their own right, if they can ringfence some of the IP in their innovation
In machine learning, three distinct types of claim are being made for patents: for applying a model, for training it and for generating data.
For the next wave of digital innovation, Europe is positioning itself as a leader in trust-based models.
The UPC’s front-loaded, unified approach is increasing the pace and intensity of patent litigation, putting Europe’s innovators at an advantage to the US.
• Managing intellectual property today, 6th edition, is published on 7th August for Newsdesk Global Communications by Novaro Publishing, ISBN: 978-1-0685644-4-4, see here for further details.
