Defining Wicked Problems in IP and Innovation

Attacking IP & Innovation Challenges Head-on 

Staying ahead of competitors, avoiding disruption, building world class patent portfolios and selecting optimal development partners are challenging IP and innovation problems. What makes them "wicked" is that critical solutions might already be discoverable or published in any technical domain, anywhere in the world, in any source - corporate disclosures, patents, literature, news, feeds, standards or the open web.

Solutions to wicked IP & Innovation problems require the systematic research of global facts, paired with sound business instinct, in order to support critical decisions.   

To obtain key inputs in IP & innovation, one must first define the proper challenge and how a solution might evolve:

Would you know a good solution if you saw it?

Would you recognize a terrible one?

In fact, many IP & innovation managers cannot articulate what their true problems are. Often, they just see symptoms. 

So, how can the right facts be found, when even the problem is too hard to define?

Getting your hands around the shady issues 

Sometimes IP & innovation managers may be completely certain about situations they face. Other times, such situations are ambiguous, with few or contradictory indicators. 

Most decision-making situations fall somewhere between these extremes. 

In market research, problem definition is a defined and critically important first step. Likewise in IP & innovation research, problem definition is essential to master before fact gathering. This ensures that research objectives are relevant and useful - meaning the results will actually be used. If problem definition is done poorly, the results could be misguided, irrelevant and potentially harmful. 

Well-defined IP & innovation problems enable linkage of questions asked in the manager's language to answers found in achievable research. What follows is a more comprehensive breakout of this approach.

The magic formula to defining wicked problems well  

1. Determine stakeholder objectives

A first step in defining wicked IP & innovation problems is to learn the objectives of the technical, business and legal stakeholders. Interestingly, many traditional innovation-related problem definitions do not consider IP issues and conversely, many IP-related problems are defined more by legal considerations than by technical implications. In the most wicked of problems it helps to express all stakeholder goals in measurable terms, even if all points of view don't control the situation. A particular challenge at this stage can be that key stakeholders may not be enabled or empowered to participate in the problem definition. This necessitates background research, as further discussed below.

2. Understand the background of the problem

This step may be referred to as a strategic briefing. It is in fact a situation analysis. Ideal at this stage are questions about "what has changed" in perception or reality for key stakeholders. Wicked IP & innovation problems are often most impacted by changes across a technology domain, among competitors, in the courts or as part of regulatory transition. Sometimes, stakeholder Q&A is not enough to define the problem (or impacted stakeholders are not available). Instead, exploratory (preliminary) research may be required to better assess the current situation or to identify important technology, business and legal variables to be studied.

3. Isolate and identify the problem, avoid focus on the symptoms

It is too easy to focus on the wrong issues when symptoms get in the way. Rather than focus solely on "the pain," it is important to identify the "true problem" that goes beyond industry-specific or event-specific drivers. Language plays an important role in defining particularly wicked problems. For instance, do you really need to identify "white spaces" or do you simply need to "increase market share?" Do you truly need "development partners" or would a "richer supply chain" add the technological differentiation that is needed?  

For example, symptoms could mask the true innovation problem in the following situation at a decades-old commodity ingredient business:

Symptom: Formulation X ingredient purchases have been declining for years, in multiple geographies 

Problem Definition if Based on the Symptom: New products and new formulations are drawing people's attention and dollars

True Problem: Tastes have changed - target demographics prefer new flavor profiles, not necessarily new ingredients

Research Opportunity: Identify flavor masking/enhancing technologies providing benefits compatible with Formulation X, at low incremental cost 

4. Determine the unit of analysis

IP & innovation researchers often discover that a wicked problem can be investigated at more than one level. For example, technology scouting requests could be driven by the requirements of a single domestic business unit or it could be the foundation of competitive advantage for the entire global enterprise. In light of the need to quantify the impact of a problem relative to different levels in an organization (and considering the diversity of data sources that can be researched in these types of problems) it is important to use multiple units of analysis. In IP and innovation research, units of analysis include phrases, records, families, classes, firms and regions.

5. Determine relevant variables

Wicked problems are often researched using large numbers of categorical variables, which indicate membership in some group. In IP & innovation research, data are often grouped into taxonomies (e.g., by firm type or technology type) to create descriptive categories for screening. There are also continuous variables, which can have an infinite number of values; dependent variables, to be predicted or explained; and independent variables, expected to influence the dependent variable and which may be changed or altered independently of any other variables. In researching IP & innovation problems, key types of variables can be: claims; patents; citations; technologies; people; years; organizations; regions; events; and currency.

6. State the hypothesis & research objectives

A hypothesis is an empirically testable but unproven proposition to explain certain facts or phenomena. A research objective is the quantifiable goal of the research project. Together, a hypothesis supported by well-defined research objectives can lead to highly-informed decision-making, by clarifying opportunities and risks related to potential solutions. Well-presented research projects in wicked IP & innovation problems are often delivered as landscape analyses: comparative studies of organizations; mapped technical approaches that break out - in terms of initial research objectives - the final data variables and units of analysis; expert findings; stakeholder implications; recommendations for action; and potential impacts on value.

Making Problematic Problem Definitions Disappear 

Better definition of wicked IP & innovation problems can lead to especially charming solutions. The key is to look past symptoms, in order to more precisely define problems at the onset of research, and then to link research objectives to units of measure and variables that - when better understood and communicated - can drive stakeholder action. With these steps for improving problem definition in mind, your next competitive assessment, white space analysis, development partner review, technology scouting or valuation project can be better informed by better-designed research.

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References

McDaniel, Jr., C. and Gates, R. (2009). Marketing Research Essentials, Chapter 2 (and accompanying PowerPoint). (7ed).

Whelton, M. and Ballard, G. "Wicked Problems In Project Definition," Proceedings of the International Group for Lean Construction 10th Annual Conference, Brazil, August 2002.

Zikmund, W. (2003). Business Research Methods, Chapter 6 (and accompanying PowerPoint). (7ed).