Intellectual property: Welsh firms wise up
By Basheera Khan
IP Wales, the initiative set up in June last year to assist Welsh companies in securing their intellectual property (IP) rights, has
experienced unparalleled success. The numbers speak for themselves, says project director, Andrew Beale.
"IP Wales is based on a pilot
project, the Swansea IPR Initiative, which had the
aspiration of getting 15 firms on board. Between October and November 1999, 125 firms signed up and that is when we were really
surprised. So we knew that there would be a demand in Wales for [our services] but we didn't appreciate how high it would be."
The project was officially launched in mid-2002, and is in the first phase of its operations. Services include an IP audit, a regular
newsletter, access to training materials and objective advice, and 50%+ reimbursement grants for SMEs in Wales which are trying to grow
their businesses through IP, with the aim of creating and safeguarding jobs. IP Wales is part funded by the Welsh Development Agency and
the European Union, which means its services are offered to Welsh business free of charge. The project is run out of the Department of
Law at Swansea University.
The target for the duration of phase 1 was to sign up 850 firms across Wales. Within three weeks of the online IP audit going live, IP
Wales had over 900 firms registered. At the time of writing, there were 1300 firms across Wales registered with the IP Wales project, and
the tally is growing.
Beale points out that there is a difference between the firms that have registered with IP Wales, and those in active
dialogue with the initiative's field officers.
"We do get firms out of our 1,300 which have registered with IP Wales so that they get the newsletter and the opportunity for the
training, but which haven't done the IP audits. It's really the ones who have done the IP audits which are the ones that we are driving
in terms of grants and helping develop IP strategy for their business. The target figure of 850 has been achieved and surpassed, but the
reality is that our active dialogue is with those who have done the audits."
Underpinning that dialogue is the concept of linking a company's IP strategy with its corporate strategy - a holistic approach, the
importance of which Beale cannot stress enough.
"The latest statistics that we have shows that 70% firms in the US are patenting technology which has already been patented. So 70% of
their effort has been wasted, simply because they failed to check whether someone had already patented their idea. In Europe, the
statistics show that at least 30% of R&D is wasted budget. So we think it's very important that people are made aware that they can
search [patent] databases over the Internet, free of charge."
One of the key benefits that IP Wales offers to firms in Wales is training, so that they can save themselves time and money by doing
their research through the Patent Office's database, or any of the other free or paid-for IP databases in existence.
Things get a little more complicated when a company is interested in securing its international IP rights, and the level of research
required in that scenario fully justifies the cost of hiring an agent or a patent officer to provide reports on the markets in which that
company is considering applying for IP protection, says Beale.
"We are keen to encourage the international dimension - if you have a grant available to you under IP Wales which is going to give you
£3,000 towards the cost of your PCT (Patent Corporation Treaty) application, and if you were going to spend £2,500 in the UK, why not
take that sum, get the IP Wales grant and do a PCT?
"The PCT will give you an option to patent in 115 countries around the world. You have then got a 30 month withdrawal opportunity where
you can go out and try and license your idea in those 115 countries. We are trying to get firms to appreciate that instead of just saving
money, this approach broadens their opportunity."
Beale believes IP Wales has been successful in increasing awareness among Welsh firms about the intellectual property rights surrounding
hidden assets such as trademarks, patents, copyright and designs.
"We're beginning to see signs that we're definitely making a difference. This month sees the launch of the first piece of research that
we did, which was encouraged by the UK Patent Office; it was research into the relevance of IP insurance for firms.
"As part of our empirical work, we [found] that there's comparatively little difference between an SME in England and an SME in Wales.
They are either confused at best - at worst, ignorant - about intellectual property. But Welsh firms are more aware of IP insurance;
they're more aware that there's no point in having an asset unless you can protect it, and no point being in a monopoly situation unless
you can enforce it."
With the objectives of phase 1 largely achieved, IP Wales is planning for the next stage of operations; whereas phase 1 was about raising
awareness and helping firms to protect their intellectual property, the second phase seeks to build on that awareness, and look to
commercialisation of intellectual property. Helping companies to help themselves is the highest priority, as the initiative will be
dissolved at the end of the second phase.
Contacts
IP Wales
Tel: 01792 295 742
E-mail:
info@ipwales.com
Web:
http://www.ipwales.com /
http://www.ipwales.com/home_w.asp (yn Cymraeg)
UK Intellectual Property
Web:
http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/
The UK Patent Office
Web:
http://www.patent.gov.uk/
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