The CIPO advantage: What great looks like in 2026

This article was first published at IAM.com

The best Chief IP Officers and the organisations they lead do exactly this. They don’t rely on a single tool in every situation. Instead, they use the full “IP Value Model” canvas in service of the business. They view intellectual property not as a legal right, but as a means to control business choke points. For each stage of the business play, they plan how such control can be built and used, and they deliberately mix IP value models to maximise outcomes.

Look at G+D, the leading SecurityTech company headquartered in Munich. They apply all IP value models to protect and build advantage in both established and emerging businesses. Exclusivity strengthens customer negotiations by making G+D the preferred partner with unique selling points. Leveraging IP in cross-licensing keeps technology access and product costs low. Licensing deals generate direct income, while Liberty actions minimise interference from third-party IP and secure the right to play in future fields. G+D is increasingly measuring the business value realised from IP. In one division, 5% of EBIT can be directly traced to IP actions, with indications that IP’s contribution supports at least 40% of EBIT. All of this is governed through a business-IP partnership structure, where strategy and execution are a true handshake between business leaders and accountable IP professionals.

Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace business also shows how this mix works in practice. Patents and trade secrets on turbine blade materials and engine-control software give exclusivity on performance features that underpin high-margin service contracts. Selected technologies are licensed into adjacent sectors, creating income. And in risk-sharing partnerships with suppliers, IP portfolios help shape how profits and responsibilities are split. Rolls-Royce’s stock has risen more than 20x from its low in 2020, making it one of the world’s best performing industrial and tech stocks behind Nvidia. While cost discipline and market recovery were major drivers, the resilience of its model rests on these IP levers.

Many IP functions are still organised as functional silos by IP right type and procedure, strongly influenced by the workflows of national patent and trademark offices. That structure fragments decisions that should be made together. Leading CIPOs instead proactively shape their organisations to control key business choke points, coordinating all IP modes to act as one (“multi-mode”). They start from the business plan, identify the few points where leverage accumulates, and coordinate all IP actions to secure those points.

What multi-mode includes will vary by sector and play. For complex equipment (robotics, aerospace, machinery etc), there’s a bias toward technology-stack control, including patents, data access control, open source and trade secrets. In diversified product portfolios, brand and design are increasingly fused with patents, secrecy and data. Either way, the goal is to orchestrate the right combination of modes to own the few points where speed, margin and bargaining power concentrate.

Grundfos, a global leader in pumps and water solutions, is building its edge through digitally enhanced products and data-driven services. Before strategic initiatives and new products are launched, the company ensures that IP portfolios are deliberately planned and built to support their commercial objectives. Patents remain the primary tool, covering both the technology stack and the differentiators that anchor customer value, but they are deliberately complemented by other modes. Contractual control of data is managed with discipline, using clear agreement and negotiation templates that regulate access, usage, and rights with customers, partners and third parties. Open-source use is actively managed, with compliance obligations monitored and development teams trained to understand the IP implications of their choices. Secrecy practices safeguard proprietary production methods, supported by trade secret protocols that prevent improper disclosure. The result is a multi-mode IP playbook that ensures the organisation is always ready to act.

Caterpillar illustrates multi-mode IP in heavy equipment. Its VisionLink platform connects a vast installed base, but the real control point is contractual and architectural. Cat decides who can access which telemetry, on what terms, and through which certified APIs. That governance is tied directly to Customer Value Agreements and analytics-driven service events, so predictive alerts convert into parts, repairs, and uptime guarantees on Cat’s terms. Patents on autonomy and diagnostics underpin the stack, trademarks and design rights protect the product franchise, and data-access clauses make the ecosystem executable in the US, Europe and China. The result isn’t just connectivity. It is a repeatable flywheel where multi-mode IP – patents, brands, contracts and data rights – drives higher attach, stickier fleets and recurring revenue.

Winning CIPOs don’t leave alignment to chance. They recognise that outdated, siloed IP organisations are more than inefficient. They are risky or even dangerous. They know that if critical data rights or update obligations are not secured, product launches stall. If partners are allowed to set the rules on data flows and interfaces, revenue slips away. If the right patents are not filed on differentiating technologies, competitors close the gap or block freedom to operate. And, if compliance requirements under the EU Data Act, AI Act, or Cyber Resilience Act are missed, products can’t even reach the market.

The best CIPOs build operating models that eliminate these risks and make IP a lever for growth rather than a bottleneck. They also know that just filing patents and defending trademarks is not enough to keep pace with the business. Winning teams step up as accountable co-owners of product strategy, data governance and ecosystem economics. They make sure that every IP action, whether filing, secrecy, contract or licensing, directly supports business outcomes and secures the choke points where real value is created. Accountability, however, is only part of the answer. The operating model itself must evolve to match the pace and structure of modern business.

That is why leading IP functions have adopted the same speed and adaptability that product and engineering organisations already live by. Over the past decade, large companies have shifted toward product-centric operating models, with cross-functional teams working in shorter cycles to handle faster innovation, rising digital content and continuous software updates. The best IP organizations mirror this development. They embed directly into product teams, work on sprint cadences and make fast, business anchored decisions. They have moved from reactive administrators to proactive business co-creators.

Volvo Group, the global leader in transport and infrastructure solutions, shows how an IP organisation can reinvent itself. More than a decade ago, the company began moving from traditional silos and local patent coordinators to a model built on integration and business accountability. Today, IP portfolio heads work side by side with business leaders from early planning through the full product lifecycle, integrated with a close team of attorneys, legal experts and intelligence analysts. Together they align IP decisions with business priorities and turn them into coordinated actions that strengthen both competitiveness and collaboration. The result is an IP function that moves with and for the business. It is faster, more connected, and has greater business impact.

Part of embedding with the business is also to be globally resilient. IP must be geographically embedded, with business-IP, legal-IP and tech-IP skills on the ground with sufficient autonomy where the R&D footprint and business operate. The IP function must design IP and data strategies that can flex across jurisdictions where rules now diverge sharply, such as data residency in Europe, export controls in the US, and evolving cross-border regulations in China.

For instance, at a recent Deep Dive Exchange in Shanghai, organised by The Conference Board and Konsert, more than 20 Western MNC executives (including Group Executive Team members) discussed the realities of competing in China. They stressed that the market operates at “China speed”, with product lifecycles measured in months, dense supplier networks, and a digital ecosystem that evolves in real time. In this setting, “China-for-China” innovation is essential, and increasingly it also acts as a launchpad for highly competitive “China-for-Global” offerings. To keep pace, local IP teams need greater agility and autonomy, while still connected to global strategy. Otherwise, subsidiaries effectively pay an “alignment tax” that erodes competitiveness. The best IP functions avoid this by empowering China operations to adapt quickly, while global integration safeguards the few strategic choke points that matter most.

Finally, winning IP organisations equip themselves for a world that is both faster and more fragmented. They are tech- and AI-enabled, but in a realistic, disciplined way. Leaders recognise the potential of generative AI and are gradually and systematically weaving it into their operations. They start with clear use cases where the benefit is immediate, then architect the technology stack around those use cases. They run adoption as a transformation programme, so that people, processes and tools advance together, and they phase capabilities in to manage risk and shorten time to value. No one is at the level of full automation, but they are moving step by step, building confidence and freeing scarce talent to focus on higher-order strategic work.

Look at Ericsson, the global telecom equipment provider. Their leading IP organisation is embedding AI across the entire function, not just for patent attorneys but for every role, enabling the whole team to shape IP value and deliver on a higher ambition. The focus is on use cases that drive measurable impact. Each initiative has a clear case for change and governance to ensure scalability. Most importantly, the journey is run as both a tech and organisational transformation. By weaving AI into the day-to-day work of analysts, legal teams and patent attorneys alike, Ericsson is turning its IP function into a faster, smarter and more integrated part of the business.

The demands on IP leadership will only intensify. Business models are shifting faster, data and technology are more deeply entangled, and regulation is changing the rules of competition in real time. The organisations that thrive are those that treat intellectual property not as a narrow legal right, but as a means to control business choke points.

The CIPO advantage is about being ready for this reality. It means using the full IP Value Model canvas to keep pace with business needs. It means capturing and controlling value across technologies, data and brands through multi-mode IP management. And it means evolving the IP function to be embedded in the business and enabled by technology.