Among the intangible assets owned by companies, intellectual property—such as in-house inventions, know-how, and creative works—has become a crucial source of value. Intellectual property strategies aimed at maximizing returns from these assets now stand as one of the central pillars of corporate business strategy. To go beyond simply protecting core technologies from infringement and instead use patents as effective leverage in negotiations and as engines of business growth, companies need mechanisms that enable them to accurately grasp IP information and make swift, informed decisions. IPeakMS, Toshiba Digital Solutions’ intellectual property management service, strongly supports this transformation. By enabling not only the protection of intellectual property but also its strategic utilization, IPeakMS empowers companies to connect IP management directly to business strategy through reliable data and advanced functionality.

Corporate value is no longer measured solely by physical assets such as products and facilities. In recent years, intangible assets* have attracted growing attention as key sources of value, and efforts to acquire and leverage them have accelerated. Intangible assets held by companies are evolving from assets that must simply be protected into management assets that drive business growth and innovation. By leveraging intangible assets, companies can enhance their products and services and strengthen competitiveness through differentiation. At global IT companies, intangible assets already account for a large proportion of corporate value.

*Intangible assets refer to non-physical assets that create value for companies. These include intellectual property rights such as patents (technologies), trademarks (brands), designs, and copyrights, as well as internally developed software, know-how related to manufacturing technologies and business processes, and human capital including employee skills and experience.

Japan has been experiencing a long-term decline in technological innovation and international competitiveness, particularly in digital fields. At the same time, the country has seen strong growth in areas such as the content industry—including anime and manga—as well as inbound tourism driven by the effective use of tourism resources, and the global promotion of Japanese food culture. These markets are expected to continue expanding, making it increasingly important to appropriately protect various assets while leveraging them for growth. Against this backdrop, the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters, headed by the Prime Minister, finalized the Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2025 in June 2025. A central theme of the plan is the realization of intellectual property transformation (IP transformation), aimed at maximizing Japan’s intellectual capital—including technological capabilities, content strengths, and national brand value—and building a new cycle of intellectual creation to address social challenges both in Japan and globally.*

* As indicated in “Cabinet Office Decides on Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2025.”

Today, intellectual property strategies are required to go beyond a purely defensive approach. To turn patents into sources of negotiating power and engines of business growth, organizations need frameworks that enable them to accurately grasp IP information and make timely decisions.

Indeed, some global IT companies have begun establishing dedicated subsidiaries to manage intellectual property. This reflects a growing number of organizations that position the effective use of intellectual property and intangible assets as a core pillar of business strategy and seek to strengthen their management foundations. To fully leverage intangible assets in business strategy, companies must establish robust platforms for appropriately managing these assets. However, they face many challenges in these management efforts.

Intellectual property management requires a high level of specialized expertise. Core operations include filing, maintaining, and managing patents and trademarks, addressing global IP issues associated with overseas expansion, monitoring potential infringement, and coordinating with patent firms and patent annuity service providers. These tasks demand significant time and the involvement of skilled professionals. However, a number of challenges are becoming increasingly apparent. Because of the high level of specialization required and ongoing talent shortages, IP-related operations often become heavily dependent on specific individuals. In addition, the aging of personnel responsible for IP management is emerging as a serious concern. Initiatives to analyze intellectual property and apply it to business strategy—often referred to as intellectual property landscape initiatives—require personnel who possess a strong management perspective. Developing and nurturing such talent has therefore become another major challenge for organizations. Organizations also face difficulties in assessing the appropriateness of costs associated with filing for and maintaining patents and trademarks. In addition, insufficient information sharing between management, researchers, and product developers remains a persistent issue.

From the perspectives of researchers who discover new technologies and developers who create new products, additional challenges exist. These include determining which technologies should be patented, balancing the timing and quality of patent applications, promoting the effective use of granted patents, and avoiding the risks of infringing on competitors’ intellectual property.

Addressing these challenges while improving the efficiency of IP operations and continuously leveraging intellectual property in business strategy is no easy task. That is precisely why digital transformation in intellectual property management has become so urgent. For intellectual property management to move beyond defensive practices and contribute proactively to business strategy, organizations must establish environments that enable centralized information management, operational efficiency, and rapid decision-making by management.

Toshiba Digital Solutions has defined a clear set of steps for building an environment that enables intellectual property–driven digital transformation. The first step is the centralized management of information related to a company’s intellectual property and intangible assets. By consolidating information into a single platform, organizations establish a foundation for effective utilization and information sharing. The next step focuses on developing an efficient and sophisticated operational environment. This is achieved by using generative AI to support tasks that are heavily reliant on individuals, automating information collection through tools such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and enabling flexible collaboration with external organizations and partners. Based on this foundation, organizations then evaluate and visualize the value of individual intellectual property and intangible assets by assessing factors such as strengths, weaknesses, and contributions to the business. The resulting insights are applied to intellectual property strategy, technology strategy, and broader business strategy. Through initiatives such as matching internally held intellectual property information, organizations can create new business opportunities and enhance the value of their intellectual property and intangible assets as drivers of business expansion (Fig. 1).

IPeakMS is the platform that supports this entire process—from the centralized management of intellectual property information to its strategic utilization in management decision-making (Fig. 2).

Managing deadlines is an essential part of intellectual property management. For example, it can take years from the filing of a patent application to the granting of rights. During this period, organizations must comply with various requirements, such as submitting a request for examination within three years of the filing date, making long-term deadline management indispensable. With IPeakMS, users can define and manage a wide range of deadlines in detail, including those related to procedures with the Japan Patent Office, patent contract terms, annuity payment deadlines, and even internal operational deadlines unrelated to specific procedures or projects. Automated notifications are sent to responsible parties at appropriate times—such as when deadlines are approaching or on the due date itself—helping prevent oversights and missed tasks.

In the ASPIC Cloud Awards 2024, hosted by the Japan Cloud Industry Association (ASPIC), IPeakMS received the DX Contribution Award in the Mission-Critical ASP/SaaS category. This recognition by an independent third-party organization highlights IPeakMS’s effective use of cloud technologies to improve operational efficiency and enable the creation of new business models with broad social and industrial impact. Building on this recognition, IPeakMS continues to evolve. In 2025, Toshiba acquired the intellectual property management solutions business operated by Scala Communications, Inc. This acquisition strengthened Toshiba’s data management expertise for IP management, as well as its talent base combining deep intellectual property knowledge with IT capabilities. As a result, Toshiba is further expanding its service offerings to support more advanced intellectual property management operations and contribute to enhancing customers’ competitiveness.

In providing IPeakMS, Toshiba supports customers throughout the entire implementation process—from reviewing existing operations and designing more efficient workflows to planning and executing data migration. Drawing on the extensive experience and know-how accumulated through many deployments, Toshiba has established a support framework that works closely with customers to build systems that maximize the value of intellectual property. This combination of expertise and hands-on support represents a significant strength, giving customers confidence and a high level of satisfaction.

Having achieved centralized management and value visualization of intellectual property and intangible assets, IPeakMS is now moving on to the next stage. Looking ahead, Toshiba will pursue initiatives aimed at maximizing the value of intellectual property and intangible assets, including mechanisms for matching company-owned patents to create new business opportunities, environments for more accurate valuation of owned assets, and even potential expansion into patent trading markets.

With IPeakMS at its core as a foundational platform for advanced intellectual property management, Toshiba Digital Solutions will continue to accelerate IP management digital transformation and evolve as a trusted partner that enhances customers’ corporate value.