Examining the early development of intellectual assets and intellectual property in new technology based firms

This paper considers how entrepreneurs in new technology-based firms (NTBFs) create, develop and exploit their knowledge assets. While the contribution of knowledge and intangible assets in generating firm value and competitive advantage is well placed in the literature, the progressive development and exploitation of intellectual capital (IC), intellectual property (IP) and intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the NTBF and the entrepreneurial function underpinning this activity have received little attention. The paper first consolidates perspectives from knowledge asset and entrepreneurship literature, theories of the firm, strategic management, social systems and socio-legal theory. The paper goes on to describe the research framework used in a current empirical study on the topic.