Introduction
The evaluation of a new invention is a very difficult task, because
sometimes the Technology Transfer (TT) managers do not have all the
information necessary.
Having a complete description of an invention is a good starting point
but sometimes it is not enough.
It is of paramount importance to understand the technical problem solved
by an invention, and to know if and how someone else has already solved
the same problem and the closest prior art.
Furthermore, it is useful to highlight the essential technical features
of the invention: this is a good starting point to carry out a
comprehensive state-of-the-art search in patent databases.
After having identified the closest prior art (one or two documents),
the next step is the evaluation of the patentability requirements.