Innovation comes in many shapes and sizes, and the innovation ecosystem is inhabited by many different operating systems. Research is at innovation’s core, and research, whether conducted by academia or in the private sector, is costly. Patents play a key role in funding that research, thus driving both today’s discoveries and the advancements of tomorrow.

The diagram below illustrates a patent’s ability to fuel a continuous stream of innovation. Under this model, rather than pump limited resources into manufacturing and commercialization of an initial discovery, an innovator utilizes the proceeds from the resulting patent to finance research into new areas of innovation.  In this way, without participating in the commercialization of a product, some innovators are able to maintain a strong and steady stream of new discoveries through the reinvestment of patent licensing revenues into new research and innovation.

As this model illustrates, those who choose or are required to license their inventive efforts are no less important than those who manufacture and sell their products to the public. Collectively, they all play a collaborative part in our nation’s innovation economy. 

This model also offers clear evidence of the need for a strong, predictable and consistent patent system as each step in the process depends on the proceeding and next steps to keep the innovation stream flowing.  Introducing uncertainty into the value of a patent has the potential of discouraging research and suppressing future streams of innovation.