Disruptive Innovation and Intellectual Asset Strategy: What Engineers and Managers Need to Know

Disruptive innovation theory, as defined in work from the Harvard School of Business, is a powerful concept in understanding how some innovations succeed so well and why so many companies seem to miss the biggest threats to their future. The natural barriers to disruptive innovation can be overcome, in some cases, by applying intellectual asset strategy - especially a combination of proactive patents and defensive publications. We describe this approach and give some examples, aiming to help engineers and managers better avoid risks and capture the opportunities before them.