Intellectual Property (IP) audits are to be offered to small businesses in the UK.
Up to 40 small firms, many of which have never before sought to protect their IP, will benefit from a 3-day 'IP audit', being piloted by the Patent Office in collaboration with four Regional Development Agencies. Two groups will be targeted - companies that have filed only one or two IP applications and those that have never filed.
The pilots form part of a new Innovation Support Strategy, designed by the Patent Office to help UK businesses recognise, protect and maximise the value of their IP assets in order to compete in the global economy. The Strategy implements the first of the recommendations of the recent Gowers Review of IP, published in December 2006.
The pilot scheme will assist up to 40 small firms in the manufacturing, service, high-tech, creative and other sectors to identify what IP exists and offer advice to protect, use and maximise its value. Other initiatives, outlined in the Innovation Support Strategy, will include web-based guidance to help UK firms operating in foreign markets and trials of 'patent mapping', whereby the Patent Office will analyse patent information in order to identify trends in the market for particular products, services or research and development strategies. The aim is that businesses using this service will be able to use the information to plan company investment and to highlight areas of potential collaboration.
The Innovation Support Strategy can be found at http://www.patent.gov.uk/innovationstrategy.pdf.
The Patent Office is renamed the UK Intellectual Property Office from April 2007.
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