Patent Portfolio Management in Utility Organizations: An Innovation-to-Value Framework for Transforming Invention Disclosures into Strategic Organizational Assets

Abstract

Patent portfolio management has evolved beyond the traditional role of intellectual property protection and increasingly serves as a strategic mechanism for supporting innovation, organizational competitiveness, and value creation. Despite growing investments in research and development, many utility organizations continue to face challenges in systematically transforming invention disclosures into measurable organizational outcomes. Existing literature predominantly focuses on patent protection, valuation, and commercialization as independent domains, while limited attention has been given to an end-to-end management framework that connects invention generation, intellectual property protection, portfolio optimization, and strategic value realization. This paper proposes an Innovation-to-Value Patent Management Framework (IVPMF) designed specifically for innovation-intensive utility organizations. Drawing upon more than seven years of professional experience in intellectual property portfolio management, innovation governance, patent strategy, and technology transfer, the framework demonstrates how organizations can transition from reactive patent filing practices toward proactive portfolio management approaches that align innovation activities with organizational objectives. The proposed framework consists of nine interconnected stages: opportunity identification, invention disclosure, technical validation, prior-art intelligence, patentability assessment, strategic portfolio prioritization, protection strategy, commercialization readiness, and strategic value creation. The framework is supported by practitioner observations derived from the management of more than one hundred patentability assessments, fifty to sixty patent filings, twenty granted patents, and twenty-three commercialization support and internal deployment pathways across multiple technology domains. The findings suggest that organizations can significantly improve innovation outcomes when patent portfolio management is integrated into broader innovation governance structures rather than treated as an isolated legal function.