Intellectual property awareness is perhaps as high as it's ever been across the business community, and investment priorities are beginning to reflect evolving executive opinions. In a recent global survey conducted by the Legal Exchange Network, corporate intellectual property managers are increasingly willing to look outside of company walls to source the tools and insights that can help defend and grow their portfolios.

Patent protection was cited as the top challenge facing asset management teams across all industries. These defensive impulses will lead more than 70 percent of surveyed firms into the market for competitive research and analysis within the next 12 months as they look to identify potential portfolio threats and opportunities. An additional 65 percent of responding IP directors are on the lookout for new portfolio management tools such as mapping and tracking software.

On a more optimistic note, six out of 10 responding IP leaders expressed an interest in meeting with IP innovation and strategy consultants in an effort to expand, or further monetize, their portfolios. Similarly, 43 percent cited a specific interest in asset valuation services.

Each company will pursue its own unique combination of offensive and defensive patent strategies, of course, but consensus seems to be that in-house resources will not be sufficient for actualizing their business visions. More than half of all survey respondents indicated that they would seek external assistance for patent litigation services within the next year.