The use of the information contained in patent documents in the Competitive Intelligence practices: a study of the patents of UFMG

Abstract

This work presents Competitive Intelligence as a tool for risk minimization during the decision-making process. It presents the CI concept, its history and its processes. It presents the patent document as an information source of great importance for technological information retrieving and, consequently, as a tool for CI practices. It presents a protected knowledge analysis of the patent documents deposited by Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, in Brazil and abroad, published until the year 2008.