A Welsh initiative directed at helping domestic small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) protect their IP has been so successful that WIPO invited the man behind the scheme to become its new policy adviser. Ben Whittacker-Cook follows Andrew Beale from Wales to WIPO

To the uninitiated, Swansea may seem like an unusual place in which to start an IP revolution. Situated on the southern tip of Wales near the beautiful Gower Peninsula, Wales’ second largest city is more famous for its contribution to the UK’s sporting and performing arts scene. However, for several years its university has been leading the way in research-based activity aimed at the economic regeneration of Wales. So much so, in fact, that Andrew Beale, a lecturer in IP at the University of Swansea, has been seconded to WIPO’s small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) division to create a programme that will drive IP knowledge among SMEs throughout the world. And he plans to do this in just eight weeks a year.

Bridging the gap
Andrew started out as a lecturer in law at the university’s law school but confesses to ‘being bitten by the IP bug’ after being asked to set up the Swansea IPR Initiative in 2000 (which later became IP Wales). Its purpose was to raise awareness of the importance of IP within the SME community in the area. ‘It’s a fascinating subject,’ Andrew enthuses, ‘and gave me the opportunity to make a real difference. I really enjoy applying theories to the commercialisation of IP in the business world, so I jumped at the opportunity.’ Since then, he has been called to speak on the subject internationally, has been drafted in to work for WIPO and the European Patent Office (EPO) and has written books and papers on subjects as diverse as IP and the legal insurance sector and patent and trademark statistics for Wales.

‘SMEs are the driving force behind a large number of innovations and contribute to the growth of the national economy through employment creation, investments and exports,’ he explains. ‘But, despite the importance of SMEs for the vitality of the economy and the potential offered by the IP system for enhancing SME’s competitiveness, they often underutilise the IP system.’ In fact, according to a May 2007 EPO report, most companies have no idea what patent and trademark information can do for their businesses.

‘Swansea, like the rest of Wales, has an economy that is driven by the SME sector. In total, it accounts for 71% of Welsh employment,’ adds Andrew. ‘The empirical evidence we produced in 2000 indicates that the level of IP activity is often determined by company size; it seems that the bigger the firm, the greater the likelihood that it will have an IP strategy. As a result, few SMEs have a consistent approach to IP protection.

‘Combine that with our early research into patent activity in the UK (which indicated that the UK was not only flagging behind industrial leaders in the US and Japan, but also other industrialised nations in the EU), and it became clear that we needed to do something to encourage SMEs to start using IP to legally protect and commercially exploit their innovations,’ says Andrew. ‘And not just for their own sakes: the lack of IP knowledge in SMEs not only exposes them to potential infringement, but also hinders the economic regeneration of the area and country.

‘We see 70 European patent applications per million inhabitants in the UK, as compared to nearly 170 in Germany. The extent of that negative effect on our market competitiveness remains to be seen, but where the economy is primarily driven by knowledge, it does not herald well.’

‘We want to raise levels of awareness and understanding of IP to allow businesses to make informed commercial choices about protecting their IP, and to help SMEs sustain and grow their businesses.’
- Andrew Beale

IP Wales was not the only organisation to come to this conclusion. WIPO’s own research into IP protection among SMEs led it to establish a new programme of activities focusing on the IP-related needs of SMEs worldwide in October 2000. ‘WIPO’s intention was to make the IP system more accessible, less cumbersome and more affordable for SMEs,’ says Andrew. ‘To date, that has led to the publication of CDs, DVDs and handbooks for use by small businesses. Recently, however, they asked me to get involved to help create a new type of resource for SMEs around the world.’

An intellectual strategy for IP
Andrew’s initial task has been to produce a handbook on behalf of the organisation’s SME division, Intellectual Asset Strategies for Open Innovation, which WIPO ultimately hopes will become a ‘ready guide’ to educate SMEs on why and how to manage their intellectual assets. ‘We wanted this guide to help businesses identify and assess the value of their IP, but also to advise on the most appropriate ways of protecting it, particularly when it comes to registering ideas as patents or trademarks for commercial use,’ says Andrew. ‘It will for part of WIPO’s “IP for Business” series and, as such, will use non technical language in order to best educate the business audience, while providing practical information on the effective use of IP for strengthening competitiveness.’

Raising awareness
‘SMEs everywhere need to raise levels of awareness and an understanding of patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright, database rights and know-how,’ says Andrew. ‘Only through education can they make informed commercial choices about their IP Rights.’

These are simple enough concepts for big businesses to comprehend and plan into their overall business plan, but Andrew explains that SMEs are too busy just trying to survive in their first three years, to worry about such complexities as IP. Many companies fail to appreciate the value of their IP, he says. ‘This can lead to real commercial and financial difficulties, especially for smaller businesses.’

Taking steps to manage and protect IP can give companies much greater commercial freedom and a legally enforceable monopoly in their marketplace. ‘An understanding of IP can add value in a number of ways. SMEs may be ignorant of IP but that doesn’t mean their competitors share this disadvantage. Ownership of IP can give SMEs a freedom with the added bonus of creating a tradable asset and legally enforceable monopoly,’ he says.

For Andrew, the potential of intellectual assets to add income and capital to a business is woefully undervalued, not just in Wales, but in the UK and Europe as a whole. He suggests that problems lie in the management side of business, which is why it’s important to him that the handbook also provides strategic advice on how to use company assets. ‘A critical part of the work I do is about raising awareness and helping firms better understand the commercialisation of their assets. My focus is about businesses understanding the importance of intellectual assets, by using my experience of my time at the University of Swansea and IP Wales.’

‘This is a culmination of many years of hard work from everyone at the University of Swansea and IP Wales,’ says Andrew. What started out as a committed academic programme aimed at regenerating and educating local businesses in the complexities of IP Rights has taken Andrew to Geneva and the very headquarters of international IP policy.


IP FOR BUSINESS

Dr Guriqbal Singh Jaiya, director of WIPO’s SMEs enterprise division introduces the resources available to SMEs at international level

Business decisions are only as good as the information they are based on, so SMEs need to learn to fully exploit their innovative and creative potential using established IP Rights. One of WIPO’s primary objective is to improve the competitiveness of SMEs worldwide, through effective use of the tools of the IP Rights system. To do this, we work not only to promote awareness of the IP system in the SME sector, but also to improve the policy framework and business environment to make it easier for SMEs to use the IP system in their business strategies in the first place.

Communication is key
We are finding that the majority of IP is now being generated by the enterprise sector, which is why SMEs are such natural partners for WIPO. However, the sheer number of SMEs worldwide, not to mention their diversity in terms of location, nature of business, size and needs makes it difficult to interact with them directly. That’s why we’ve chosen to interact with this growing sector through the various SME support organizations that exist around the world, although that doesn’t exclude the possibility of providing assistance to SMEs directly, wherever possible.

That’s why collaborations with experts such as Andrew is so important, as local expertise allows us to tailor and strengthen the way we communicate with and provide services for SMEs around the world. It’s also a novel collaboration with academia, but one that we are keen to continue.

Of course, SMEs of varying sizes and levels of technological sophistication may benefit from different aspects of the IP system according to their specific needs and technological capacity. Similarly, their capacity and ability to develop new and innovative products, processes and services varies significantly, depending on their sector, size, focus, resources and the business environment in which they operate.

But collaboration is key whatever the size or sector, which is why our SME programme also focuses on assisting SME support institutions to integrate IP into the formulation and implementation of their programmes, policies and activities. This, in turn, will help them to strengthen the competitive position of the SMEs that they assist. We provide backing for the development of local outreach activities and for building their IP-related capacity. We also organise awarenessraising events, whether that be basic IP rules for business or more in-depth treatments of how IP is relevant to their business sector.

Prioritising IP
It’s very easy for an SME to put IP to one side as they deal with their day-to-day problems. After all, they have working capital to manage or regulatory burdens to overcome. Often, IP is sidelined due to a fundamental lack of knowledge of the system, or the potential of their creativity. However, as we move towards an increasingly knowledge-based economy, it is actually an SME’s creativity and innovation that will ensure its future success in the marketplace, whether that be by protecting its own ideas via its patent rights or by distinguishing it from its competitors through its brand identity. Instead of leaving IP to one side, SMEs need to start working now to maximise the role of their intangible assets. That’s why creating awareness and building capacity for making effective use of the tools of the IP Rights system is the biggest IP issue today for SMEs.


This article was first published in IP Review, issue 22

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