Patent Analyst – Food & Drink / Beauty & Personal Care

Mintel undertakes global patent analysis in the Food & Drink and Beauty & Personal Care sectors so as to produce insights that complement our existing consumer, market and innovation expertise.

Patents can often be used as a predictor of innovation trends and can identify new technologies that will shape these sectors.

Working as part of Mintel’s insight team, the analyst will be mining patent data and identifying hot spots of global patent activity.

The dedicated patent analyst has three specific focus areas:

To create patent-related content to be published on the Mintel platform for our global syndicated client base.

To work with Mintel’s Consultancy team on specific customer-related projects requiring patent analysis and insight.

To work with the Food & Drink and Beauty and Personal Care analysts to supply patent data to supplement their own platform articles, client projects and presentations.

There will be an element of competitor intelligence, as well as the identification of patents that tap into major trends or demonstrate a new focus of investment.

Turning this analysis into content for publication on Mintel’s client platforms requires the ability to write and present data clearly.

What you will be doing:

• Content writing: 75%+ time
• Mining patent databases to develop reports within defined food & drink or beauty & personal care sectors, using relevant keyword and patent classification-based search strategies.
• Identifying what patent trends mean for the sectors covered by leveraging Mintel’s proprietary consumer and innovation insights to translate patent activity into actionable market implications and create reports combining this with patent insight.
• Occasionally, review patent details linked to launched food & drink, or beauty & personal care NPD.
• Client work: variable, though approx. 25% of time.
• Working with Mintel’s client consultancy teams to define patent analysis input for bespoke projects. This will involve scoping project timelines and the level of resource required, to be include in project proposals, and helping to deliver the analysis and build the final deliverables and actionable recommendations for clients.
• Support commercial teams in helping clients understand Mintel’s patent analysis capabilities, including assisting with responding to incoming queries.
• Joining meetings with clients and presenting patent-based analysis to them where relevant.
• Other: Working closely with, and feeding analysis to, category and technical sector experts and working with them to build actionable insights.
• Help to promote Mintel’s patent analysis capability to existing and prospective clients, working alongside Mintel’s Marketing and PR team to write blogs and other articles.

What We Are Looking For:

• Experience in an IP / patent focused role, either client or agency side, focused on patent searches, such as patent landscaping, competitor or portfolio analysis, high level and in-depth patent analysis.
• Educational background in life sciences, biotechnology, or other that is relevant to consumer goods in food & drink, or beauty & personal care, such as chemistry.
• Ideally, experience of the food & drink or beauty & personal care industries - gained from working within, or serving, the industry, in a role linked to patents and IP.
• Full working knowledge of patent search engines, including Derwent, WIPO, EPO etc., and ability to operate these with minimal supervision.
• Full knowledge of patent industry terminology, including that linked to patent search engines.
• Ability to speak confidently and credibly to clients about patents
• Experience of delivering client workstreams on patent analysis, by sector, theme, or market. Understand the type of patent-related output sought after by clients, and how to deliver this.
• Methodical, detailed and thorough approach to work, with the tenacity to spend significant time reading individual patent files, to draw out key facts within them.
• Technical writing skills; ability to write concise and insightful analysis.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively multitask in a fast-paced environment.
• Self-starter capable of maintaining an efficient work schedule with minimal supervision.
• Confidence to deliver presentations to internal teams and external clients.
• An interest in consumer trends and innovation. The ability to think laterally and join the dots between patents, end-product innovation, and the end consumer.