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Small firms to get IP health checks

Intellectual Property audits are to be offered to small businesses up and down the UK, Science and Innovation Minister Malcolm Wicks announced recently. Up to 40 small firms, many of whom have never before sought to protect their valuable intellectual property, will benefit from a 3-day ‘IP audit’ being piloted from March by the Patent Office in collaboration with four Regional Development Agencies.

The pilots form part of a new Innovation Support Strategy published last week, designed by the Patent Office to help UK business recognise, protect and maximise the value of their Intellectual Property assets to compete in the global economy. The Strategy implements the first of the recommendations of the recent Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, published last December.

Malcolm Wicks said: “Protecting and promoting innovation has never been more important for firms big and small, at home and abroad. Andrew Gowers’ Review underlined the importance of intellectual property in a world where the UK’s economic competitiveness is increasingly driven by knowledge-based industries, innovation and creativity.

“Every business uses aspects of intellectual property, the name it trades under, process it uses or the products or services it provides. The IP audit pilots will help up to 40 small firms in the manufacturing, service, high tech, creative and other sectors identify what intellectual property exists and offer advice to protect, use and maximise its value. It is just one of a number of new initiatives designed to help businesses raise their IP game in the face of growing global competition.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .