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SUNY RF accelerates invention evaluations with Octimine
The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY RF) oversees one of the most extensive public research portfolios in the United States. Managing more than $1 billion USD in annual research funding and nearly 2,000 active patents, the foundation supports 30 campuses and reviews hundreds of invention disclosures each year. Each disclosure is evaluated through a structured framework that assesses its Intellectual Property (IP) potential, commercial prospects and technology maturity. To maintain the pace of innovation, SUNY RF sought a faster, more refined way to conduct these evaluations without overextending its internal resources.
Escalating disclosure volume
The annual influx of more than 100 invention disclosures required rigorous evaluation of IP value and market readiness. However, manual assessment methods could no longer deliver the required precision or speed.
Time-intensive prior art searches
Conventional Boolean searches consumed valuable hours. The team often had to improvise with query strings to learn the finer points of building an effective prior art search, which slowed progress and reduced responsiveness to inventors.
Continuous training cycles
Student researchers contributed to evaluations, but each semester restarted the learning curve. The constant rotation reduced efficiency and delayed the delivery of results.
Competing portfolio priorities
Licensing managers balanced disclosure assessments with the ongoing management of existing technologies. The strain made it challenging to sustain the same level of strategic oversight across their portfolios.
What SUNY RF needed
SUNY RF required a solution that could elevate the quality of its prior art searches while restoring operational agility. The goal was not only to shorten evaluation cycles but to equip staff and students with an artificial intelligence (AI) system that produced more relevant insights with minimal training and administration.
Our approach
Step 1:
SUNY RF adopted Octimine, an AI-driven patent intelligence platform designed to understand language, not just syntax. By augmenting Boolean logic with semantic search, the technology transfer office achieved more precise and relevant results from natural text. The team noted that the motivating factor was realizing they could achieve even better results without having to flesh out a search fully or handle the nuances of Boolean methods, explaining they could simply input text and obtain equal or better outcomes.
Step 2:
Through shared project workspaces, licensing managers and student analysts could collaboratively examine and refine search results. This transparency improved quality control and minimized duplication of effort.
Step 3:
With IP Management System (IPMS) connectivity, Octimine enabled searches to begin automatically upon disclosure submission, reducing delays between intake and evaluation. After a year of use, assessments move faster and more definitively, with "thumbs-up or -down" decisions made within weeks and portfolio triage handled far more efficiently.
Step 4:
Building on this progress, SUNY RF is preparing to use Octimine's monitoring and watchlist features to strengthen oversight of applications and grants. Having already succeeded in green-lighting patents with strong potential claims, the office is ramping up efforts to track similar technologies, identify potential overlaps and explore enforcement opportunities as part of its expanding IP management strategy.
The adoption of Octimine transformed how SUNY RF evaluates innovation. Assessment cycles that once stalled under administrative pressure now advance swiftly and decisively. The platform's intuitive design reduced onboarding time for student researchers, while its search precision elevated the confidence of licensing managers.
Octimine has since become an integral part of SUNY RF's operations. Each new disclosure begins its life cycle within the system, ensuring that evaluations are both data-driven and delivered with professional consistency.
Octimine has made our prior art searches both fast and highly accurate. We use it every time; it's now part of our standard operating procedure.
SUNY RF Innovation and Partnerships
Innovation navigator series: from invention to impact with Octimine
Introducing our exclusive 3-part webinar series, designed specifically for tech transfer and research offices and featuring Octimine, Dennemeyer’s innovative software solution designed to streamline patent research!
