Need to establish a methodological philosophy of Competitive Intelligence in SMEs and research groups based on patent analysis

The large quantity of free available information, easily accessible on the Internet, enables to avoid wasting scarce resources to reinvest something existing, which commonly known as duplicative or unproductive R & D. Small and medium enterprises should be made aware that they should apply Competitive Intelligence methodologies to be competitive. This paper analyzes the waste of resources caused by reinventing what already exists and justifies the need to establish a Competitive Intelligence methodology. Precisely, it proposes a global competitive intelligence methodology focused on knowledge management and technological watch based on patent analysis.