Intellectual Property Management in the Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo

Protecting research results has been considered critical for R&D management. New competitive conditions have triggered new approaches to IP management, far beyond protection of research results. Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP) is a large research institution and was created as technology arm of the petroleum industry. IMP is now pioneering the adoption of the concept of research as a business unit. This paper presents the results of an investigation of IMP’s experience in IP management, identifying strengths and weaknesses according to a model proposed by the authors that considers a set of practices and instruments to optimise value generation from IP.