Have you ever wondered what you can learn from searching through all of the patent applications that have been filed in the US, or in other countries? Sure, you might find some interesting, rare, or even unique ideas--but did you also know there are multiple benefits for various stakeholders? For example, 

·      For students considering graduate work, searching through patents may help you find a faculty advisor at a university who works in the same field you are interested in pursuing.

·       For students looking for a paper topic, exploring intellectual property space through Patent Vector can help you identify issues or find evidence with which to test hypotheses.

·      For faculty and researchers, you can find scholars at other universities who do similar research and may be interested in writing a grant proposal or co-authoring a paper with you.

·      For lab and institute directors, you can find companies who may be interested in entering into a sponsored research agreement with you based on shared interests.

·      As a university administrator or official, patent searches can help you identify leading researchers who you may want to add to the top of a search list for new faculty. It can also help give you data on the impact your university or units within your university are having on the world based on how important the patents coming out of your technology transfer offices are compared to other universities. 

This course will guide you in using a web-based program called Patent Vector to analyze patents, technology, and innovation trends. Patent Vector not only provides users with access to viewing thousands of patents from across the globe, but also provides tools to analyze the importance and impact of not only the patent, but also the assignees and inventors. Texas A&M University is one of the only universities in the US to have all-access to this website

Through this course, the learner will:

1.     Demonstrate understand of how to access the Patent Vector (PV) site;

2.     Locate a patent using the various entry points of searching for a patent on PV;

3.     Be able to communicate why patent analytics are useful to various stakeholders;

4.     Analyze the importance of a patent based on its PV metrics; 

5.     Search for other patents related to a given patent; and

6.     Determine and analyze an assignee or inventor's impact in a given area of technology.