Issue 01 · 15 October 2026 · scheduled
Confidential know-how: financing, NDAs and evidence
Hello,
I’d like to use this newsletter to share useful reading on IP and innovation every two weeks, with a few observations of my own. This first issue brings together a question that runs through our recent work: how do you make confidential knowledge identifiable and verifiable while keeping control of who can see it?
From Bernstein
Making know-how visible to a lender
The EUIPO’s report on IP-backed finance raises a difficult question for companies whose value lies in confidential know-how. A lender needs enough information to assess an asset. The company needs to protect the information that makes it valuable.
Our new article explores how a dated, verifiable inventory can support that conversation before detailed disclosure. My takeaway: prepare the evidence before the financing discussion starts. It won’t establish a valuation or replace due diligence, but it gives both sides something more concrete to work with.
👉 Read the article on IP-backed finance
Giving an employee NDA a precise reference
An NDA can refer broadly to confidential information. Years later, identifying the files and versions covered by it may be much harder.
This article follows a hypothetical employee from onboarding to departure, showing how agreements can refer to certified collections without reproducing technical secrets in the paperwork. I find the historical revisions particularly useful: an abandoned design may still be confidential, even if it no longer appears in the current project folder.
👉 Read the article on employee NDAs
Our updated research on blockchain evidence in court
Paul and I have published the October edition of our cross-jurisdictional study. It separates four questions: whether a record can be admitted, whether it is intact, when it existed, and how it connects to a person or organisation.
The distinction matters in practice. A timestamp can support evidence of existence and integrity; authorship and ownership require additional evidence. The paper is open access, with a plain-language introduction on our website.
👉 Explore the research and download the paper
Elsewhere in IP and innovation
WIPO: getting science into practical use
The 2026 Global Innovation Index looks at how scientific breakthroughs become businesses that can scale. For me, it raises a practical question: what must a research team have in place before a commercial partner can assess its work?
EPO: Europe’s technology transfer challenge
The EPO will discuss how to turn research and patents into market success. I’d listen for what helps a promising project become a collaboration that both sides can actually execute.
October 22, 13:00-14:30 CEST. Programme and livestream
If one of these topics touches a problem you’re working on, reply and let me know. It will help me choose what to cover next.
Best, Marco