Companies and organizations in general are witnessing the profound transformations in information and knowledge management technology, transforming these into valuable intangible resources for companies, which have to compete in a globalized market, therefore subjected to greater pressure and Uncertainty, therefore, every day companies already base their performance even more on the intensive and systematic use of knowledge, on the management of innovation, to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in it, and to achieve sustainable competitiveness in the weather.
The case analysis shown in this article aims to demonstrate the need to systematically incorporate the analysis of industrial property information as a tool to map market strategies, incorporating the vision through patents, utility models and industrial designs. according to the case, to ensure, identify and assimilate the latest technological changes introduced in the technology or product in a way that is always guaranteed, as well as generate competitive advantages together with the vision of the protection alternatives of the marketable results through some of the modalities of industrial property.
Introduction
Continuous changes in the market cause business management to face the future always with high doses of uncertainty. In the marketing performance scenario, the increasing complexity in decision making is a reality. The constant updating of information technologies has brought with it that in the departments and business departments there are specialized areas for researching new products and services in order to go to market, prepared to face market demand competitively.
In general, entities facing this situation feel the need to order the management of information, the collection, processing and analysis of data, which enables useful reports to be provided to the company's senior management. The answer goes hand in hand with what is called the Marketing Decision Support System (SADM), which integrates experts and computer media in order to provide a quick and effective response to the information needs expressed by those responsible for business strategy of the organization that requires knowledge that allows them to support decisions that ensure they stay in competition.
Among the components that make up the Marketing Decision Support System (SADM), is market research, it has always been a task that has helped company managers to make more solid decisions and control the activities of your company watching the environment of the competition. Various authors have pointed out that the task of market research is to satisfy the information needs and provide the top management of the organization with updated, relevant, accurate, reliable and valid information. Other experts consider that the integration into the SADM of the so-called Technological Surveillance and Business Intelligence Systems is sufficient.
Through market research, companies are able to identify ways to improve products with novel alternatives that ensure that they distinguish their products from similar ones from the competition, and from this differentiation draw up brand strategies.
Studies carried out in Cuba show that even researchers and entrepreneurs do not recognize the value of the source of information in the field of industrial property, including patents, utility models, designs and trademarks as a valuable source of market information; the search for patent information is generally carried out only for the purposes of patent applications, as a result, a high percentage discover in this process that their result was previously achieved and protected by third parties, losing the novelty of the “new result” So nobody cares about valuing the material and economic losses for carrying out an investigation whose result was already in the state of the art, thus duplicating the investigations unnecessarily.The lack of an adequate culture in Industrial Property by researchers and entrepreneurs in general causes ignorance of the technical, legal and commercial value of this source of information that is generated worldwide as part of the process of protection of the exclusive territorial marketing rights that are published. by the different industrial property offices and which serve as the basis for mapping intelligent market strategies and national development policies by sector.
Our objective is to show the dimension of patent information in the technological and commercial development management of any company.
This process consists of four phases of market research. The case analysis that we propose on the application of photovoltaic solar energy in the development of "Farming Houses ", also called greenhouses or "green house". In market research processes, the need for information is determined in the initial phase to start the market research process, which is carried out with a view to diagnosing the current situation of the company's product in the current scenario, which can also be identified as a diagnosis of the company's situation in the market with a certain product; In this phase the problem, the need for change, the possible alternatives to be introduced by the company and the opportunity to make a decision to enter the market in a more competitive way are determined. In this process, companies can take advantage of the advantages provided by patent information, because it marks the trends in the development of innovation,specifically of the innovation that aims to enter the market with exclusive territorial marketing rights. The analysis in this phase, through patent indicators, shows us which are the technologies and products that are already obsolete in the market, the lifetimes, the leading holders and the potential market strategies through destination countries. of its patents, with all this vision it is feasible to promote strategic decision-making in the organization.the leading holders and potential market strategies through the countries of destination of their patents, with all this vision it is feasible to promote strategic decision-making of the organization.the leading holders and potential market strategies through the countries of destination of their patents, with all this vision it is feasible to promote strategic decision-making of the organization.
Development
Generally, the specific information that is extracted from the market research follows a project approach to the need to find a solution to a problem and, based on the result of the research, define the decision. Once you are aware of the magnitude and characteristics of the problem, possible action resources are designed to guarantee market entry and meet specific demands. In theFigure 1 shows the phases or stages included by the market research methodology in the form of a sequential process.
Determination of Information Needs
The starting point of the entire market research process lies in the responsibility that the top management of the company has in making the correct decisions to guarantee the development and permanence in the market, this phase is of vital importance since the managers they must clearly define what problem or opportunity they wish to exploit for which they are based on the results of the investigation; It is necessary to know the particularities of the segment that we intend to enter and that can directly affect the profitability and soundness of the technical solution that we plan to commercialize, through a meticulous search in which we necessarily incorporate patent information. In the “ Case Application of Photovoltaic Solar Energy for Farming Houses”, we will see how the information recovered from patents can be interpreted, so that it allows us to define more precisely the problem and / or the opportunity, to establish the specific objectives of the research to ensure that we really enter the market with a different, competitive, feasible offer, economically and materially to be assumed by the company. The Engineer in charge of the task initially proposes a project with the objective of introducing smart agriculture in our country through the introduction of technologies to establish a new system of production of vegetables in farmhouses, safe, reliable and highly efficient in the use of natural resources, managing from photovoltaic solar energy for the microclimate of the growing house by means of thermal, heat or cold supply,preferably from renewable sources of specific designs of solar panels for this purpose with a view to improving the productive potential.
The client requests that all the existing patent information on solar panels and their specific designs be provided for this purpose, in order to assimilate the technological changes already published by patents and other sources of information on photovoltaic solar panel designs. On this basis, it is a matter of defining the problems in the current panel designs and the opportunities to design a new panel that more effectively satisfies this stated need.
In the international context, it is known that the use of renewable energy in general has become essential for development today, with a view to minimizing fossil fuels and mitigating the effects that accelerate climate change. In the case that concerns us, a term that is beginning to gain popularity is that of “agrovoltaic” energy.
So-called 'agrovoltaic' energy is simply based on combining in a suitable way to produce from solar energy, the energy required to promote good agricultural practices in these systems. In this way you can increase the science of the land and avoid excessive water consumption and effort. China, for example, has developed many alternatives for applying this technology. Figure 2 shows a farmhouse using solar energy.
As shown in the previous figures the type of design shown is to cover the roofs of the cultivation houses with the incorporation of huge solar panels. Some Chinese populations, such as the Yang Fang (Guizhou) region, have a pilot model of this “agrovoltaic” energy production system, in addition to the Asian giant, there have been various companies, universities and technological research institutes that have obtained positive results with the incorporation of "smart greenhouses" example of this is the Chilean company GeoGrow 10,which through the use of new technologies offer services for smart greenhouses with low energy consumption, with the ability to heat and cool on demand of the crop; The Spanish company Novedades de Agrícolas SA 15 has also managed to reduce production losses by up to 70%. With the support of the group of researchers from the University of Almerías, they designed and built a greenhouse to carry out a trial with tomato cultivation. long cycle using amorphous silicon photovoltaic plates in the greenhouse structure instead of the typical high weight crystalline silicon plates , achieving good results both in quantity and in the quality of the commercial product: On the other hand, the work carried out by Professor Michael Loik from the University of California 14, which placed wavelength photovoltaic panels on the roof of the greenhouse selective (or WSPV in its acronym in English), resulting in 80% of the varieties grew adequately in this type of greenhouse compared to conventional ones and the remaining 20% grew in a way superior to the traditional system, in addition to the cost WSPV panels is 65 cents per watt, a 40% cheaper thansilicon technology, considering the results obtained by these companies led us to carry out a study of the state of the art based on the patent information to make decisions and recommend the commercial strategy to be followed to the client.
Research on the state of the art based on patent information on the use of renewable energy, particularly solar energy in farm houses.
Patent documents can provide useful information regarding whether the idea is new (state of the art) and whether it is strategic to be developed. Furthermore, a proper analysis of patent information can give an idea of the strategies of potential competitors and trends in the field of technology. (Kalanje, 2005, p. 7)
For the patent analysis, the keywords used to define the strategy and search for information were (cultivation house or house shadow or growing house or house capping or greenhouse) and photovoltaic from 2007 to 2017, that is, a 10-year retrospective. Figure 1 shows the trend of patent families in the period described above based on patented designs.
To carry out the study, the Questel Orbit database, a proprietary database of the France Telecom group, was used. This patent database is among the world leaders in information with a high level of updating. It has patent documents from 90 patent authorities worldwide. Figure 3 shows the mask of the results in the database.
The strategy applied was in the fields of claims To ensure that only those patents related to the application of photovoltaic solar energy in a cultivation house are recovered, from the results established in the previous figure, a total of 1,376 families of patents distributed by years were recovered only in this period.
From the analysis of the information recovered with the applied strategy, it is also possible to identify the leading countries in the generation of patents on this subject, proposing different alternatives for the use of photovoltaic energy in the cultivation house, either to generate adequate temperatures according to the crops or as an energy source for other purposes such as lighting, irrigation or others. Graph 2 shows the generation of patents by country in the period.
The previous graph identifies the number of patents generated in the period on the subject by priority countries, it is observed that China is the leader in this type of development through patents. This is due to the concern of this country in ensuring food production for its large population in a sustainable way. For example, it is known that the Chinese government plans to invest the equivalent of 280 million euros in the next three years, in this particular development, thereby ensuring that a greater volume of population is dedicated to the production of vegetables and vegetables in cultivation houses, for which they will have better technologies and will make better use of renewable energy.Its projection in this regard is to have an installed capacity of 150 MW in cultivation houses with a photovoltaic roof by 2020"
Taking into account the information provided by the graphs above, we can argue that China can be an important partner for cooperation in our country, in the application of photovoltaic solar energy in farmhouses. Figure 4 shows the main holders of these patents in the Asian country, thereby recognizing those who are developing this line, highlighting the work of the Universities with a total of 27 family of patents, the Institutes of Technologies with a total of 26 family of patents and technological development centers in greenhouses with a total of 21 patent families.
It also allows us to know which of the alternatives already existing in the state of the art are assimilable and / or transferable according to the particularities of crops that are grown indoors in our country and their climatic conditions. Figure 5 shows them in technological sectors, incorporated into a set of recovered solutions according to the strategy to be followed.
The results shown show that in the field where most work is done in the design of special machines, mainly using technology that does not impact the environment, as well as the use of materials analyzing basic chemistry and civil engineering work to the construction of the cultivation houses, which allow more efficient use of solar energy through photovoltaic panels. The revised information detects novel designs based on crops. A challenge for Cuban engineers could be the design of tobacco drying houses with the application of photovoltaic cells.
For a better understanding of what has been previously written, figure 3 below shows the family of patents by the priority years according to the code of the International Patent Classification (CIP), indicating the trend of technological changes being introduced in the design of the application of photovoltaic solar energy in the cultivation houses. Demonstrating the types of changes that are made in greenhouses for the sake of developing more competitive systems of greenhouses with agrovoltaica energy. In this case we can infer that what has generated the most patent in this matter are the designs of greenhouses and in the devices of the heating systems adapted to the use of photovoltaic energy. This information is a valuable source of knowledge for Cuban designers who are involved in this project,to ensure the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels, the production of clean energy applied to agriculture.
The recovered information must be processed and transferred to the experts and decision-makers who will be able to determine which alternatives are feasible to assimilate by their own means or if collaboration with entities is required, which have already been recognized for their development.
This analysis can also be an example of how to implement the internal systems of industrial property as stipulated in Resolution 21/2002 of the CITMA for internal systems of Industrial Property (SIPI) to lay the foundations for the necessary changes to be made in the sector agricultural incorporating the use of renewable energy, particularly the use of solar energy.
Advantage.
The benefits of implementing these types of project is that it gives you the opportunity to learn about the alternatives already present in the state of the art, facilitates their assimilation and improves adapted to the particularities of demand, in order to guarantee high efficiency energy and control of climatic variables, increasing the yield of agricultural plantations per house of crops, obtaining better fruits and low operational costs.
Conclusions.
The analysis and incorporation of industrial property information management as a tool for market research has revealed, for the case in question, that China is one of the main exponents in the use of renewable energy in farm houses, which facilitates the assimilation of knowledge and technological changes. This research provides engineers and innovators with a source of technological alternatives that can be intelligently assimilated to introduce new approaches to agriculture with more effective results.
Bibliography.
Original text
- Auxiliadora Vega Barón, 2015 PhD Thesis on Industrial Property as a tool for Product Design. Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona. Doctorate Program of Technological Innovation Projects in Product and Process Engineering. González Marroquín, 2012 Master's Thesis on Business Intelligence in the Development of Market Monitoring Systems for the Electrical Sector. Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Ingeniery school. Master of Engineering Sciences. Kalanje, C. (2005). Intellectual Property, Innovation and New Product Development. WIPO Magazine.. July-August 2005, pp. 6-9 Available: http: //www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/sme/es/documents/wipo_mag azine / 7_2005.pdf Trespalacios, Vázquez, Bello;2005 Market Research. Methods of collecting and analyzing information for decision-making in marketing
Author's Note: The claims are the legal clauses that in the description of each patent express the legal and technical limits of the object of the invention.
Producing electricity in the greenhouse, a very promising renewable innovation.
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