Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

2.3 Elements of good practice
The services exhibit the following elements of good
practice:
� The German Patent Information Centres try to act as IPR “one-stop-shops”
(i.e., integrated services) with respect to patent issues. Other forms of IPR seem
to be less well covered, though;
� The centres are operated by qualified and experienced staff;
� Coverage is national, with a number of regional outlets;
� The cooperation with the German PO and the role as an intermediate between
the user and other IPR related parties (i.e. the European PO, and, most
importantly, patent attorneys) can be considered to be an asset;
� Availability of information and training activities in cooperation with technical
universities and colleges;
� Reportedly high reputation;
� High reputation, especially among frequent IPR/patent users;
� Extensive awareness raising and information activities, a major number also in
co-operation with regional partners in various regions of the Federal State of
Baden-Württemberg;
� Operation of a working group with SMEs.
The “neutral view” as a public service provider is considered also as an important
factor, although the lack of profit-orientation may imply foregone business
opportunities, not only for the PIC Stuttgart but for all PICs nation-wide.
The following challenges arise for the PICs:
� Establishment of an evaluation culture: The PICs have not been subjected to
external evaluations, yet;
� Getting better to know the customers: Though the SME working group may
be an important instrument for tackling this issue, it could prove useful to
elaborate on ways on getting hold of more contact information regarding its
customers (e.g., maybe through conducting user satisfaction surveys or by
offering newsletter subscriptions);
� The rather narrow focus on patents (as opposed to the full range of IP
protection methods) may be an issue;
� Visibility of the service in the general innovation support arena;
� The different sizes and scope of the PICs may entail also large variations in the
amount of available services at each regional outlet.
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ANNEX I – CASE STUDIES