Research capability · On demand
Under NDA before anything is shared
Research capability without the research department. Landscape studies, novelty and feasibility work, technology scouting and invention identification — run by IP people, so what you find is protectable by the time you have found it.
The idea
Most organisations do not need a permanent research department. They need research — once, properly, on a specific question, with someone accountable for the answer.
Why people call
The question that decides whether you spend the next two years building — asked properly, against patent literature rather than Google.
A technical read on whether the concept holds up before it becomes a budget, a supplier commitment or a promise to a customer.
Who is filing what, in which markets, and where the white space sits — mapped from the patent record, which moves years ahead of the product record.
Most organisations are sitting on protectable work they have never identified as protectable. Finding it is a discipline, not luck.
Eight capabilities
Commission one of these, or a sequence of them. Most projects start with a single question and grow only once the first answer is in.
Who owns what in your field, and where the gaps are.
Whether the idea is new enough to be worth filing on.
Whether it can be built, and what stands in the way.
Finding existing technology worth licensing rather than rebuilding.
Whether live rights stand between you and your market. See the full FTO service.
Surfacing protectable work already inside your organisation.
Records written so they survive an examiner, an auditor or a buyer.
What the result could be worth, and to whom. IP BANK India takes it from there.
Seven steps
Nothing is shared before an NDA, and nothing is searched before a written scope. Both of those are for your protection more than ours.
An NDA first, then a conversation about what you are trying to find out — and what you already know.
The question, the method, the deliverable and the timeline, in writing. If the question is wrong, this is where we say so.
Patent databases and technical literature, searched by classification and by concept, not by keyword alone.
The engineering question underneath the IP question — materials, mechanisms, constraints, what has already been tried.
What of this is protectable, by which right, and how soon it must be filed before disclosure closes the window.
Findings, sources, method and limitations — written so your own team can carry it forward without us.
Filing where there is something to file, and commercialisation options where there is something to sell.
Why it is structured this way
Research capacity that appears when you need it and stops when you do not. No headcount, no lab, no idle capital.
The cheapest place to discover a problem is the beginning. Prior art, a blocking claim or a physical constraint costs least on day one.
Research run by IP people does not accidentally destroy its own novelty. Disclosure is managed while it still can be.
The findings, the documentation and any IP arising are yours. We take no share and claim no rights in the outcome.
Documented method and stated limitations — so the work stands up in diligence, in an examination report and in a board meeting.
Filing, watch, or commercialisation through IP BANK India — the next step is already in the same building.
Fit
One question, answered properly, before the seed round is spent building the wrong thing.
Startups & companiesProduct improvement work that never gets done because everybody is running production.
For companiesDepartmental research that needs a patent-side view before publication closes the door.
InstitutionsAn honest answer on novelty and feasibility before money goes into a prototype.
Individual innovatorsCapacity alongside an IP cell — landscape work, invention identification, documentation.
IP Cell for institutionsResearch and search capacity in India, run to a brief set anywhere else.
International clientsTrack record
The searching, drafting and prosecution work behind every Virtual R&D engagement is the same practice that files and defends the results.
Research through protection through commercial outcome.
DesignProduct-side work for a manufacturer, not a paper exercise.
MoreTransfers, registrations and commercialisations across sectors.
Every engagement is quoted against a written scope, because a two-week novelty check and a six-week landscape study are not the same piece of work. Tell us the question and you will get a proposal — scope, method, deliverable, timeline and fee — not a range.
An NDA is signed before anything technical is shared. You own the findings and any IP arising from them.
One mechanism, or a whole field. Scope is the single biggest lever on effort.
A clear technical brief and existing filings shorten the work; a blank page lengthens it.
Landscape and FTO work multiply per territory, because rights are national.
A literature-level answer, or investigation into materials, mechanisms and constraints.
A findings note, or a full documented record built to survive diligence and examination.
Straight answers
Research capability you commission for a defined question instead of employing permanently. You bring the problem; we run the landscape research, the technical investigation and the IP assessment, and hand back a documented result you own. It is the research department without the department.
Two differences. The work is run against patent databases and read at claim level, which is a different discipline from general technical consulting. And protectability is assessed as the work happens — so the research does not accidentally destroy the novelty of its own findings before anyone thinks to file. A consultant hands you an opinion; this hands you a documented record and a filing decision.
You do. The findings, the documentation and any intellectual property arising from the engagement belong to you. We take no share and retain no rights in the outcome. Ownership is stated in the engagement terms before work begins, so it is never a conversation you have to have later.
Yes. An NDA is signed before anything technical is shared, and it covers the brief, the material you send and everything produced during the engagement. This matters more than it sounds: in patent law, disclosure at the wrong moment can permanently destroy the right you were trying to create.
It depends entirely on scope — a focused novelty question and a full landscape study across several jurisdictions are different sizes of work. The timeline is agreed in writing with the scope, before research begins, and we would rather commit to a date we can hold than one that sounds better.
Engagements are scoped, not packaged, so a startup can commission the one question that actually blocks the decision rather than a full programme. Most start narrow — a novelty check or a single landscape — and grow only once the first answer justifies it. Tell us the question and the constraint, and we will scope to both.
Then you have saved the money you were about to spend proving it the expensive way, and that is a real result rather than a failed one. Reports say plainly what was found and what was not, including where the evidence is thin. A finding that changes your direction early is worth more than a comfortable one that changes it late.
Yes — both, and they ask different questions. Companies usually arrive with a product decision and a deadline; institutions usually arrive with research that is about to be published and has not been assessed for protectability. The method is the same; the urgency and the deliverable are not.
Talk to an expert
Start with the question you cannot answer internally. If Virtual R&D is the wrong instrument for it, we will tell you what the right one is.
Not happy with something? We keep a dedicated complaint-handling team, separate from the people delivering your matter. Every complaint gets a reference number and an independent review. Raise a complaint or send feedback.