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TopIntellectual Property Commercialization
In recent years two ways for commercializing IP, CI and IP marketplaces, supported by web platforms have acquired increasing relevancy. The CI practice aims to promote the creativity with intention for creating new ideas and concepts; and the IP marketplaces aim to provide support for commercializing IP already patented, i.e., they are focused in the transferring of IP among IP owners and buyers.
To understand better the contents of the survey that are being discussed in the next section, some concepts related to crowdsourcing and IP marketplaces are being discussed next.
Created by How (2006), the crowdsourcing term is presented as a web-based business model, composed of a distributed network of individuals. The idea is to launch challenges, with the intention of creating innovative solutions. In other words, a company puts in a crowdsourcing platform a challenge, for what the associative creative network (designated by crowd) develop solutions (Brabham, 2008).
This study finds that there are two main definitions about crowdsourcing. The first one is given by Howe (2006): “Technological advances in everything from product design software to digital video cameras are breaking down the cost barriers that once separated amateurs from professionals. Hobbyists, part-timers, and dabblers suddenly have a market for their efforts, as smart companies in industries as disparate as pharmaceuticals and television discover ways to tap the latent talent of the crowd. The labor is not always free, but it costs a lot less than paying traditional employees. It’s not outsourcing; it’s crowdsourcing”(p. 3).
And the second definition was given by Brabham (2008): “Crowdsourcing is not just another buzzword, not another meme. It is not just a repackaging of open philosophy for capitalist ends either. It is a model capable of aggregating talent, leveraging ingenuity while reducing the costs and time formerly needed to solve problems. Finally, Crowdsourcing is enabled only through the technology of the web, which is a creative mode of user interactivity, not merely a medium between messages and people” (p. 87).