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

摘要

This paper presents the Competitive Intelligence (CI) as a tool for risk minimizing during the decision-making process. It presents the CI concept, its history and its processes. It features the patent document as an information source of great importance for technological information retrieving and, consequently, as a tool for CI practices. It presents the analysis of knowledge protected through patent documents filed by the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil and abroad, published by November 2012.