Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

3. IK2 – Innovation and
Knowledge
Country: Sweden
Original title: IK2 (Innovation and Knowledge), kunskapsbron
Target group: SMEs
Coverage: Regional (province of Scania (Skåne))
(Pro-active) awareness raising measures/Public Relations
X Information Provision Services
Category*: Training
Customized in-depth consulting and advisory services/
points
X Finance & Legal Framework
*classification system defined by the Austrian Institute for SME Research
3.1 IK2 (Innovation and Knowledge)
in a nutshell
IK2 (Innovation and Knowledge) is an innovation support programme offered in
the Swedish province of Scania (Skåne) designed to identify and support innovative
projects and to provide relevant IPR support for individuals and companies to
protect their ideas and/or inventions. In terms of marketing activities, the aims are
stimulating and supporting new ideas which should lead to the development of
innovation and production processes in existing companies and companies which
are early stage. It was included as a case study in the scope of the underlying
benchmarking study in order to illustrate how the topic of IPR can be covered also
in the frame of general innovation support.
Overall, the objectives of the IK2 service are to provide assistance in innovation
projects, in the course of which it also familiarises SMEs with IPR-related issues. IK2
helps to identify the innovation potential of a project and/or concept by offering
specific innovation guidance; this guidance covers also relevant IPR information
with a view on patents, trade marks, copyrights and registered design. Around
45 %–50 % of the services provided by IK2 are so-called pre-study meetings, which
consist to around 50 % of advice concerning IPR issues. In addition, loans and
grants are available for various purposes and stages of development of the innovation
projects within IK2 – including IPR: the so-called “innovation loan” can be
used to help covering the costs arising during the development process. In
addition, the loan may also be used to finance the registration of different types of
IPR.
Although IK2 offers support regarding formal means of IPR protection, the level of
IPR competence is more of a general, basic nature; IK2’s advice towards IPR issues
consists mainly of strategic considerations: explaining the different IPR instruments
(but also less formal IP protection instruments), how they work and which strategy
may be best for the SME. For more complex IPR topics, such as legal advice, IK2
refers to external individuals and organisations, e.g. consultants, patent attorneys
or the national patent office. These referral activities are part of a general matchmaking
function embodied in the service, such as projects with research institutes
and/or universities. Notwithstanding the referral activities to the open marketplace,
IK2 users can still use financial support for IPR-related actions taken (i.e., pre-studies
for patent applications).
IK2 has an explicit focus on SMEs; the IPR services offered cover the processes of
development, registration and utilisation of IPRs. No restrictions are in place for
certain industries or technology fields. The programme offers its services until a
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ANNEX I – CASE STUDIES