1. Increasing importance of the role of intellectual
property
Nowadays, competitive advantages are based on knowledge and other
intangible assets. Innovation has become open, projects are performed in
networks and often involve multiple participants. In view of these evolutions,
experts and decision-makers agree on the importance of intellectual property
and the necessity for economic and innovation actors to gain knowledge on this
subject.
Over the last 10 years, many initiatives have been taken on the
national level and in the European Union to inform SME executives about
intellectual property. For example, Luxemburg started the LIIP initiative
(Linking Innovation and Industrial Property). Within this project, co-funded by
the European Commission (FP6) and led by five national intellectual property
offices with their partner(s), specifically adapted material for familiarising
SMEs with the different intellectual property themes was developed. It includes
a best practices guide available in six European languages (English, French,
Spanish, Italian, Greek and Estonian) as well as an interactive tool1. The core of its content is a series of 10
recommendations to help SME executives implement an intellectual property
strategy.
In addition, Luxemburg initiated a European project from the
Leonardo da Vinci programme, which led to the development of a distance
learning platform on intellectual property2.
2. Organisation of promotion and support for Luxemburg
companies
Since 1994, the Intellectual Property Direction in Luxemburg (IPD),
which is a department of the Ministry of Economics and External Trade, has
housed an organisation that promotes awareness and the services for innovation
actors in Luxemburg. In order to conduct an active policy of intellectual
property promotion, the IPD established a collaboration with the Henri Tudor
Public Research Centre and with Luxinnovation, the national agency for the
promotion of innovation (member of the Innovation Relay Centres Network).
Together with the Henri Tudor Centre, the IPD created the
Centre de Veille Technologique (CVT,
Technological Watch Centre), a department that strives to meet two objectives:
to develop and make available to innovation actors specific services that
enable them to control patent information and to support the IPD in the
development and promotion of intellectual property in Luxemburg. The services
offered by the CVT include:
- research and patent analysis services (prior art searches, legal
status, technology trends, networks …),
- training courses on themes linked to the exploitation of patent
information,
- advice and training services to help enterprises understand the
intellectual property stakes, in order to incorporate it in their
strategy.
On the other hand, the CVT regularly carries out surveys to measure
the degree of awareness of companies and to assess the use of intellectual
property in Luxemburg. In this context, the CVT recently published the results
of a survey stating the knowledge and use of intellectual property system in
Luxemburg. Moreover, the publication provides a detailed account of patents use
by Luxemburg-based companies3.
As a national agency for the promotion of innovation and research in
Luxemburg, Luxinnovation is an important catalyst. On the one hand, it makes
companies aware of the importance and consideration of intellectual property
aspects within innovation projects and, on the other hand, it relays companies
towards different institutions and experts that are likely to offer them the
necessary support in intellectual property matters4.
Luxinnovation regularly organises events for innovation actors about
intellectual property, in collaboration with the institutions responsible for
intellectual property in Luxemburg, in particular the IPD and the Benelux
Office for intellectual property (Benelux trade marks and designs).
3. Which strategy should be used to promote intellectual
property?
In spite of many awareness efforts undertaken by SMEs across Europe
in recent years, SMEs still do not have enough knowledge of the intellectual
property system. For example, the survey carried out recently in
Luxemburg3 revealed a
disappointing statistic. More than 80% of companies that do not actively use
the patent system suffer from an obvious lack of information about the
intellectual property system.
This result is in line with those of other surveys and observations
made in other countries. The reflex to think about intangible heritage is not
well developed among innovation actors in Europe, and the fact that this might
be due to unawareness of the system and its possibilities poses a considerable
risk.
Based on these observations, one might wonder whether the approach
of promoting intellectual property among SME executives really is
sufficient.
Why not also focus on young people who will be the future innovation
executives and thus guarantors of our competitiveness?
Would raising awareness among the general public by generalising
this abstract and complex matter not contribute to the education of innovation
actors?
Over the last two years, several activities targeting the general
public and young people were organised in Luxemburg.
As part of the 2005 Science Festival5, an exhibition as well as an intellectual property
workshop for young people between the ages of 15 and 18 were organised. This
workshop specifically targeted secondary schools in Luxemburg and used
exercises and interactive games to teach basic concepts of intellectual
property to pupils and to lead them to discover patent information sources on
the Internet.
In 2006, an exhibition on «le tour de
l’innovation à vélo» (innovation bike ride) was created to
familiarise the general public with intellectual property using a very popular
activity: cycling and the bicycle. This exhibition was organised in the
framework of an event that was widely covered by the media, the Tour de France
passing by Luxemburg. The functioning of the different intellectual property
rights (trade marks, patents, copyright, designs) and their roles were
illustrated, such as the patent’s role in the progress of bicycle
technologies and the trade mark’s role in distinguishing quality
products and their identification with their providers (cf. photos 1 and
2).
The positive response from the public and young people during these
first pilot experiences conducted in Luxemburg demonstrates that intellectual
property may be interesting for a public other than professionals and may in
fact appeal to the general public.
We are convinced that it is necessary to raise awareness at this
level, if we want to reach a more positive and active attitude of all
innovation actors towards intellectual property in the long term, and we will
take into account these observations when developing the future policy of
intellectual property promotion in Luxemburg.
1.
For more detailed information on the LIIP project and the
products developed in this framework or to download the guide for free:
www.liip.org(«)
2.
For more detailed information on the platform:
www.dips-project.org(«)
3.
Survey on patterns in matters of technical information and
protection of SME/SMI inventions in Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. The publication
«20 ans de brevet au
Luxembourg» (20 years of patents in Luxemburg) is
available on request: cvt@tudor.lu(«)
4.
Innovation gate in Luxemburg :
www.innovation.public.lu («)
5.
www.science-festival.lu, event organised by the
Fonds National de la Recherche (National
Research Fund)(«)
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