Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Assets

FOREWORD

“YES” WAS MY unhesitating answer when Julie Davis and Suzanne Harrison asked me to write the foreword for their new book, Edison in the Boardroom. I respect the authors for their knowledge of intellectual assets, and I share their reverence for the famed innovator.

With a quarter century of IP consulting accomplishments between them, Julie Davis and Suzanne Harrison bring real corporate street smarts to an all-too-theoretical field. Through their work as consultants with Andersen and ICMG, these two are at the forefront of change in the intellectual property field.

Moreover, their choice of an icon is fitting. If Thomas Alva Edison stands tall in the history of science, he looms as a giant in the history of business. The inventor's contributions did not end in his laboratories. Instead, through his guidance, they evolved into vast business empires that exist to this day—notably personified in the legendary General Electric. The Edison emulated in these pages is not the Edison whose brilliant tinkering helped build our modern industrial world. Rather, it is the Edison whose methodical management of the entire IP process ensured that these inventions would build value for his companies' shareholders.

In my view, this is the Edison we need to emulate today. My book Rembrandts in the Attic, coauthored with David Kline, drove home one central point: IP may be neglected, like a painting in an attic, but once discovered, it can become extremely valuable. We showed readers how ...