EIU Announces New IP Survey

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

22 January 2007

New research published last week by the Economist Intelligence Unit, and based on a survey of senior executives, explores how European firms plan to utilise their intellectual assets

According to the EIU, the strategic importance of intellectual property (IP) is growing rapidly, and European companies are changing how they manage IP. Protecting the firm's "crown jewels" — its patented or copyrighted assets — remains critical. However, pressure from shareholders is also reportedly building to use swollen IP portfolios to improve top-line results.

When asked the key drivers in their quest for better IP management, European executives most frequently cited the opportunity to expand the revenue base (50% of survey respondents), slightly more than mention the need to protect investments in R&D (49%).

The research also found that collaboration is crucial to IP value maximisation. Realising the full potential of ideas means letting them flow in and out of organisations to where they can be most efficiently handled at each stage of their development. 68% of surveyed European executives said that increased R&D collaboration with third parties is central to improving their firms' innovation, and another 46% said the same of collaboration in standards development.

"The creation of intellectual property is coming increasingly to rely on open innovation," observed Robin Bew, Editorial Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit. "In developing an IP strategy, companies will need to strike the right balance between protecting and sharing their ideas."

The report, entitled 'The value of knowledge: European firms and the intellectual property challenge', was based on an online survey of 405 senior executives from across Europe in September-October 2006.

Respondents were spread across 39 countries, with the UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands providing the largest number.

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