As a FICPI member, you may be aware of PEC, FICPI’s Professional Excellence Committee. PEC looks closely at how we do business as IP firms and complements the work of CET, the Work and Study Commission, which focuses on the laws and offices we deal with on a daily basis.
One of PEC’s key tasks is to advance knowledge about managing IP firms. To do so, PEC organises the Practice Management Stream of FICPI’s Open Fora.
The Practice Management Stream consists of a series of sessions dedicated to the business of our profession. Since April this year, PEC has also participated in organising FICPI webinars on business and management topics.
However, in order to provide more valuable and unique insights into our profession, PEC needs more information from you and your firms.
Currently, there is almost no aggregate knowledge available on a global scale about how prosecution-heavy IP firms conduct business, how these firms are organised, the tools they use, and their concerns, challenges and future goals.
Hence, one of PEC’s principal aims is to start gathering this information and thereby establish itself as a global business intelligence unit for the (our) profession.
Share your views
The success of this undertaking depends largely on you, as a FICPI member, sharing information with us. FICPI’s focus on the IP attorney in free practice, the unique composition of its membership and FICPI’s global reach provides an excellent foundation for building up knowledge of the profession.
To tap into this knowledge, PEC is conducting online surveys on a variety of topics. We urge you as a FICPI member to participate in these surveys. By doing so, you will not only help in advancing the knowledge of our profession, but also gain greater insight into the workings of your own firm.
The knowledge garnered from our surveys is important for several reasons:
- First, it allows you to compare your firm with other firms in your country, region or globally.
- Second, the results of our surveys, when accumulated over several years, can identify trends in the profession and the IP marketplace, and in turn may be used for lobbying, benchmarking and for developing business strategies.
- Third, the results of the surveys allow PEC to identify current challenges for the profession and to offer targeted advice – if need be with the help of specialised advisors – specifically tailored to the needs of the FICPI membership.
Our next survey, which will be launched on July 30, 2020, is concerned with IP Practice Benchmarking, wherein we will assess those aspects of our practice which are in transmission, which are emerging, or where threat and opportunity arises. As always, the survey is completely anonymous and conducted in such a way that no information can be backtracked to your firm.
If you’re a FICPI member you will automatically receive notification via email when the survey opens. We encourage you to participate and look forward to your feedback.
Advance viewing
If you’d like a preview of the questions ahead of launch, please email [email protected] and we’ll be happy to share them with you.
FICPI’s view and involvement
As the only worldwide organisation for independent IP attorneys, FICPI is uniquely placed to offer opportunities to learn from and share information with peers. The upcoming survey will shed more light on how independent IP attorneys are organised, future goals and how they build growth in the companies they serve and help organisations protect and build value in their IP assets.
Next steps
- Find out more about FICPI’s Professional Excellence Committee and consider getting involved: https://ficpi.org/organisation/ficpi-commissions/professional-excellence-commission
- Join FICPI’s LinkedIn Group where you can discuss challenges, hot topics and issues with other FICPI members in a closed forum: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2214472/