From Idea to Asset: How a Patent Comes to Life at Equifax

Every year, World Intellectual Property (IP) Day serves as a reminder that the world's most impactful products began as conceptual breakthroughs. Transforming those creative ideas into patented assets that help drive New Product Innovation (NPI) is a journey that requires technical ingenuity and teamwork.

Equifax has more than 700 pending or approved patents spanning 15 countries and driven by over 340 individual inventors. These patents include distinctive techniques to accelerate the use of AI, including machine learning for data & analytics and risk modeling. More than 400 of the organization's pending and approved patents support its approach to responsible AI, with many of these patented AI techniques used in customer-facing solutions.

The recent launch of Optimal Path - the company's interactive credit score planner - directly to U.S. consumers is a perfect example of how Equifax brings its intellectual property to life to support consumers on their financial journey.

The Spark of Invention

The journey for Optimal Path began with a fundamental challenge: the static nature of historical credit "coaching" tools. They offer generic advice that may not account for the unique and sometimes complex details of an individual's financial life. To solve this challenge, the Equifax Data & Analytics (D&A) team didn't just look for a software update; they sought a fundamental shift in understanding how data is utilized in credit tools.

Utilizing patented Equifax technology, the interactive score planner suggests the most actionable, positive behaviors for the individual user. These suggestions are based on a consumer's credit file as well as EFX.AI-driven insights that simulate how a consumer's score could change by following the recommended action plans. Unlike static credit score simulators or one-time score planners, Optimal Path uses EFX.AI to create customized 30-day action plans that evolve as an individual achieves their particular objectives, helping consumers to meet their unique financial goals faster.

The Equifax Differentiator: Its Advanced Cloud-Native platform

While the D&A team provided the patented intelligence, the Equifax Cloud™ provided the robust foundation needed to leverage patented EFX.AI capabilities and seamlessly integrate Optimal Path into the myEquifax mobile app so that it is available to consumers at no additional cost. The Equifax Cloud and custom data fabric give the organization the ability to accelerate product innovation and deliver solutions that are faster, more reliable, more powerful, and more secure than ever before, as evidenced with the launch of Optimal Path in Canada last year.

Driving AI Innovation to Help People Live Their Financial Best

Equifax continues to drive responsible AI innovation, which the organization has been doing for well over a decade. In 2015, Equifax introduced its patented NeuroDecision® Technology, a technology powered by explainable AI (XAI), which was among the first machine learning (ML) credit scoring methodologies to generate logical and actionable reason codes for consumers.

Equifax is committed to ensuring transparency and explainability in the use of AI, infusing its patented EFX.AI techniques into solutions designed to enable customers to get to insights faster - helping to create new consumer opportunities.

In the spirit of World Intellectual Property Day, the launch of Optimal Path highlights how an initial creative spark, if protected carefully and deployed leveraging a robust technology foundation, can have tremendous impact. In this case, Optimal Path helps empower consumers to take more control over their financial journey and help them live their financial best.