Confidential know-how: financing, NDAs and evidence

Marco Barulli — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Updated: 2026-10-13

Recent Bernstein articles, our updated research paper, and two things worth your attention elsewhere.

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?

Explore WIPO’s report

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

Insights by Bernstein: Newsletter