CHICAGO (May 22, 2018) – Aon plc, the leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, today launched its Intellectual Property Solutions group, providing increased industry knowledge for clients working to protect and maximize their most valuable asset in today’s business world – their intellectual property.

There has been a significant shift in the global economy from hard, tangible assets to intangible assets. With $19 trillion, or nearly 85 percent of the value of the S&P 500, being intangible, investment in the development and deployment of IP is changing the global landscape.

“Companies are struggling to connect their IP assets to their overarching business strategy,” said Brian Cochrane, global CEO, M&A and Transaction Solutions at Aon. “To drive value in the intangible economy, you must be able to value intellectual property and tie business decision making to those value drivers. Businesses must shift their mindset to maximize enterprise value through IP strategies, and our IP Solutions group will guide clients to do just that.”

Aon’s IP Solutions group will bring the best minds and strongest analytical tools to clients, helping secure their investments and maximize the value of their IP portfolios. To accomplish this, Aon acquired IP industry leader 601West, a division of Lee & Hayes, appointing the company’s co-founder, Lewis Lee, to chief executive officer of Aon’s newly formed IP Solutions group.

“Traditional approaches to IP management have focused on the legal frameworks of IP, with insufficient insights into IP’s economic attributes and the need to align and coordinate IP with an overall business strategy,” said Lee. “The industry leading knowledge of 601West along with Aon’s world-class resources will close this gap, offering holistic and innovative strategy, risk mitigation and valuation to clients.”

Lee brings 30 years of IP practice leadership to Aon, most recently specializing in IP strategy counseling, IP portfolio development and commercialization of IP. He was recently ranked as one of the top 1000 patent practitioners worldwide and one of the top 300 IP strategists worldwide by leading industry publication, Intellectual Asset Management magazine. Lee will report to Brian Cochrane.

ENDS

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

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Allyson Marcus
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Allyson.marcus@kemperlesnik.com