Welcome to the latest instalment of Managing IP’s ‘Five minutes with’ series, where we learn more about intellectual property practitioners, or those working in the IP profession, on a personal and professional level. This time, we meet Ed White, head of intelligence consulting at Clarivate in the UK.
Someone asks you at a party what you do for a living. What do you say?
I am a patent data analyst, and I measure innovation.
Talk us through a typical working day.
I usually start early at 7am, enjoying the early morning quiet for research. I am lucky in that the team and I have access to all the Clarivate data in powerful live analysis tools, for example, the Derwent World Patents Index.
Afternoons are more focused on time with colleagues: Teams calls, one-to-ones and project reviews. I am usually done by 5 or 6pm, though emails can spill into the evening.
What are you working on at the moment?
We are deep in preparing next year’s ‘Top 100 Global Innovators’ report, which means a lot of data checking, a lot of writing and a lot of reviewing. This will be our 15th edition, continuing to celebrate the companies and institutions that contribute more and go further than others.
Does one big piece of work usually take priority, or are you juggling multiple things?
For important set pieces, I tend to calendar block for hours if not days, to make the routine disappear if I need it to. The rest of the time, it is a balance. That said, knowing what you need to focus on and concentrate on, and guarding those circumstances, is a really important work hygiene habit.
What is the most exciting aspect of your role, and what is the most stressful?
Deadlines are stressful, but I enjoy the urgency. A broader challenge is rigour: making sure things are right. Stress comes when accuracy fails.
The most fun I have is in our many ‘Top 100’ award events, celebrating in person high-performance innovation excellence with our recipients alongside dozens or even hundreds of their team members.
Tell us the key characteristics that make a successful IP lawyer/practitioner.
Patent attorneys (noting I am not one!) are special because they have a dual specialism: law and science. More than that, those who can master the technology alongside the ability to listen, to write, to communicate at a very advanced level: they are rare, and they are skilled.
What is the most common misconception about IP?
That patents are just court cases waiting to happen. 99% of the time, patents are about having the ability to include technology into contracts – putting technology into the real world. A bridge, rather than a barrier.
What or who inspires you?
I love the detail that builds to the extraordinary, particularly in engineering. Spaceflight or Formula 1 or modern semiconductor fabrication: millions of decisions and hours at hyper focus, but all converging on a single mission.
If you weren’t in IP, what would you be doing?
I think I would still be in some form of science communication, and probably something interdisciplinary. Perhaps innovation economics or museum curation.
Any advice you would give your younger self?
Your career won’t compare easily to that of others, so don’t measure it that way. You are luckier than you admit. And probability has a time axis – what you want will happen, but be patient and roll the dice more.
What is your motto in life?
Our family motto: Tantum uno plus (‘just one more’).
