Intellectual property asset management, intellectual property prospect planning in technical field, authorized use of intellectual property, intellectual property abstract and intellectual property commercialization services and other services that can be outsourced offshore in the same way. These services are not only applicable to patents, but also to trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Some American law firms have begun to set up back-end centers in India, while others have joined hands with local Indian companies to achieve the same goal. Contract R&D institutions have been widely adopted by pharmaceutical companies. Other emerging areas of the industry include product introduction optimization and manufacturing process improvement. It is estimated that the global R&D contract market will reach $20 billion in 2004.
For example, India, as an offshore outsourcing destination, has a very significant cost advantage in contract R&D outsourcing and clinical trials, basically only 40-60%. Recently, some companies, such as AstraZeneca in Britain and Kawasaki Steamboat in Japan, have set up drug research and development centers in low-cost destinations and outsourced their R&D operations overseas. By outsourcing data mining and analysis overseas and placing data warehouses in low-wage countries, American companies can significantly save 60-70% of costs; Demand and channel planning, manufacturing arrangement and transportation planning are some examples of supply chain management solutions, which require the application of mathematical design, statistical analysis and computer-aided simulation. For example, Russia and India are ideal destinations for these services, and these countries provide a large number of engineers and even doctors at a very low cost. The cost difference between a doctor of science and engineering in the United States and in India (or Russia) can reach 600 million to 800 million dollars.