How IPwe Became The Leading SaaS Provider of IP Innovation
Many people are familiar with IPwe and its Founder, Erich Spangenberg. Few people are aware of the full history of IPwe and the motivations behind its founding. We wanted to share IPwe’s mission and full history, in light of the partnership between IPwe and Clarivate which will the digital transformation of IP innovation.
While IPwe was founded in 2018, its insurgency began in 2007, with the acquisition of a patent analytics tool out of the University of Minnesota by Erich Spangenberg. This tool was harnessed to generate over $2 billion in revenue from patent financing. This tool made Erich and his team global leaders in patent asset management and valuation.
But the team wanted to expand prolific management of IP scale outside the confines of their company. However, this proved difficult, as patents are a traditionally inefficient and cumbersome asset to monetize. The IPwe team in 2007 was left without an answer and was also spending significant time and resources consolidating patent data.
Until 2017, when the enterprise use case for blockchain technology began to receive more attention.
The IPwe team discovered a solution to the puzzle of patent management and data management that has troubled IP professionals and financial executives for years. They achieved this by utilizing a unique combination of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence.
Erich Spangenberg Founded IPwe
Following this realization that blockchain could be used to consolidate and track patent data, IPwe’s AI focused on patent analytics. This focus enabled IPwe with the means to provide data-driven insights to business leaders’ patent portfolios through its platform.
While providing a consultative and transactional service for business leaders, IPwe remained focused on its ambitious long-term goal of becoming the singular fintech platform for intangible asset management to drive IP innovation. Although IPwe recognized that this task would not be accomplished overnight, Erich Spangenberg and his team remained committed to constructing their offering from the ground up, without taking any shortcuts. They ensured that they built their platform with utmost care and attention to detail.
Partnering with IBM’s Hyperledger Accelerator program in 2019, IPwe demonstrated its intentions to develop industry-leading blockchain technology. With a unique outlook on the potential of emerging technology to revolutionize IP management, companies, like IBM, quickly bought into the vision of IPwe.
Then, in 2021 IPwe announced a partnership with Casper to further use blockchain to innovate the IP space. The unique blockchain-powered company, Casper, enabled IPwe to transform patents into NFTs.
IPwe’s Success and Partnership with Clarivate
Fast-forwarding to January 2022, IPwe kickstarted the beginning of its new ecosystem, with the launch of the Smart Pool initiative.
Pioneering a new age for IP, Smart Pools represented a refreshing use case for intangible assets. Smart Pools unlock innovation for the wider market and promote the adoption of new technologies.
From its beginning in 2018, IPwe has maintained its mission to propel innovation. The inefficient use of intangible assets has proved to be a consistent barrier to innovation. IPwe’s Smart Pools launched in 2022. They represent a new way for companies to unlock innovations to the rest of the market. Smart Pools have over 600 members and growing, in its first year. This success highlights the desperate need for a solution of its kind. Expanding into 2023, Smart Pools will be just a pillar of the wider IPwe ecosystem for Smart Intangible Asset Management.
This initial success, alongside exposure of their technology developments, contributed to IPwe’s notoriety in the IP space. A flock of interest in 2022 culminated in an industry-changing partnership with Clarivate, the world’s largest curator of patent data.
Clarivate saw an opportunity to rapidly progress IPwe’s bid to change the paradigm for intangible asset management. Together, with their vast database and experience and IPwe’s relentless developments in the space, IPwe’s partnership with Clarivate stands to be the catalyst for a change in asset management that will forever impact business as we know it.
Leader in Intellectual Property Innovation Since 2018
IPwe is now at an inflection point in its journey as a leader in intellectual property innovation. IPwe is now at an inflection point in its journey as a leader in intellectual property innovation.
As a leader in intellectual property innovation, IPwe has reached a critical inflection point in its journey. Combining a lifetime of successful IP management with four years of AI and blockchain development, IPwe launched SIAM in 2023.
With a focus on understanding one’s intellectual property, and having a vessel to effectively leverage this knowledge, the Smart Intangible Asset Management platform is a one-stop SaaS solution for intangible asset management, enabling business leaders to generate a higher ROI on their portfolios.
Utilizing its seasoned AI with both IPwe’s global patent registry and Clarivate’s complete dataset, IPwe’s technology will be able to accurately evaluate every single patent on the market, creating an accepted standard for a previously abstract asset.
A blockchain eco-system comprising IPwe Digital Assets enables a better portfolio understanding. It also allows for the consolidation of this information into a secure database. Regardless of the number of patents in a portfolio, the Smart Intangible Asset Management platform can record all pertinent data points digitally onto its platform, creating a single source of truth for asset management. This platform provides a comprehensive solution for clients’ asset management needs.
The IPwe ecosystem actively manages a source of IP truth that provides more than just peace of mind. IPwe’s Smart Pools are just one of several avenues to unlock your assets’ full potential, increase their ROI, and improve your IP innovation.