Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

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142 BENCHMARKING NATIONAL AND REGIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR SMES IN THE FIELD OF INTELLECTUAL AND INDUSTRIAL <strong>PRO</strong>PERTY possible commercialisation of an invention. However, the project initiators are required to display a driving force of their own. Therefore, only one ongoing project is allowed for a single SME. In terms of geographical coverage, the service operates in the southern part of Sweden, mainly in the province of Scania (Skåne) only. The province of Scania has around 1.2 mio inhabitants which is about 13 % of the Swedish population. Background and Resources IK2 grew out of a merger of two innovation oriented organisations, Kunskapsbron and Innovation Skåne, but existed actually in different constellations since 1998. IK2 was built upon the experiences made in the pre-successor organisations. Today, IK2 is owned by Region Skåne, Innovationsbron Syd AB, municipalities of Skåne and Almi Skåne. Almi Skåne is the regional branch of Almi, a joint-stock company owned by the Swedish government and the country councils. Almi covers 21 regions in Sweden, where every region has its own version of IK2 (known by different names) which operates in more or less the same way. IK2 is financed equally by Region Skåne, Innovationsbron Syd AB and Almi Skåne. Split into offices at three locations in Skåne (Malmö, Helsingborg and Kristianstad), IK2 is operated by a staff of around 7 people consisting of experienced experts with strong backgrounds in innovation management, economics and engineering. Moreover, advisors undergo additional IPR training during the year. It has to be noted tough that only few IK2 employees posses critical experience in IPR issues which might be, as experts state, a weakness when it comes to the ability of offering differentiated guidance with regard to IPR issues. In 2006, the budget for the whole service amounted to € 1.5 mio; around € 680,000 were used for direct service activities. For 2006, a full range of target figures has been set for IK2: e.g., with respect to the number of customers (1.200 contacts), number of pre-studies (450) and knowledge means (60), innovation loans (40) and product development contributions (80). Modes of operation IK2 takes a very broad and informal approach to the support of innovation projects (as can be, for example, seen by the fact that the service does not use traditional application forms, but rather makes use of extensive interviews). An important pillar of the innovation programme is that IK2 staff accompanies the innovation projects straight from the beginning for a very long time and provides hands-on support on what is needed in every phase of the innovation project, including IPR. IK2 thus acts as a personal innovation coach with no limit in the number of hours of advice a participant can get. The service package offered by IK2 primarily consists of guidance and funding. As part of the overall innovation assistance, the guidance can be seen as a general information service providing an overview regarding IPR within the areas of patents, trade marks, copyrights and registered design and tries to identify how important IPR issues are in the current situation of a company. If in-depth consulting is needed, the respective company is handed over to IPR specialists. In addition, the following financial packages are offered: � Funding for pre-studies: These funds should enable persons to develop an idea and get necessary help from experts in areas such as commercialisation, technical evaluation, law and whether the innovation is innovative enough to apply for a patent, in order to investigate if it will be possible to pursue the idea further. � Knowledge means funding: SMEs can receive co-financing for development projects. In development projects, IK2 assists in creating an active development project through knowledge sharing between researchers and industry: IK2 evaluates the development needs of the company, together with the company management, and thereafter introduces an appropriate co-worker to carry out the development project.
� Innovation Loans: This specific type of loan is offered to cover the development process of a innovation project with up to 50 % of the total costs. The loan is granted with a conditional repayment clause: if the project is successful the entrepreneur is obligated to pay the loan back. If this is not the case, the entrepreneur may pay back only a reduced amount of the loan, or in some cases even nothing. The loan can also be used to finance the registration of different types of IPR. The decision process, whether funding is granted or not, is regularly made by the so-called innovation council. Financial grants, which exceed € 1.300, have to be accepted by at least two persons in the council. Further to the core service of IK2, and in association with NUTEK, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, IK2 runs also a programme called “Product Development for Small Enterprises in Skåne” (Produktutveckling i skånska småföretag, PUSS). Already established companies can apply for funding if they carry out product development in other areas than the ones they already operate in. The contribution can at most amount up to 50 % of the company’s product development costs. Potential IPR issues can be also funded through this programme. Evaluation and Performance Regular monitoring exercises are in place to ensure sustainable developments within IK2 and its service offerings. On the other hand, IK2 is not subject to regular external formal performance assessments and/or evaluations. However, initiated by Region Skåne, an external evaluation was carried out recently by an external consultant (focusing both on the service’s performance and the organisational structure). The take up of the service throughout the region has been very promising. The following overview summarizes some performance indicators of IK2: � IK2 serves around 600 clients per year. Out of these, around 150 can be estimated to use the services to address IPR issues. � In 2006, 40 commercialisations (new products) were introduced by already established companies with support from the service. In addition, 4 license agreements were issued in 2006 with the help from IK2. In 2006, around € 1.4 mio were used for financial support. In addition, IK2 received interests on their loans which can be used for other funding purposes. Parts of these funding and revenues were used for the above mentioned financial packages: � Number of granted pre-study means: 170 projects; the average sum per project was approximately € 1.200. In total, around € 215 TSD were invested. � Number of granted knowledge means: 34 projects; the average sum per project was approximately € 3.800. In total, around € 215 TSD were invested. � Number of granted innovation loans: 17 projects; the average sum per project was approximately € 29.000. In total, around € 645 TSD were invested. � Number of granted product development contributions: 28 projects, the average sum per project was approximately € 22.000. In total, around € 570 TSD were invested. Other performance indicators, like number of patents filed with support from this are not used. The number of IPR titles, i.e. patents or other IPR, induced by this service is rather low. Therefore, no data is collected on these aspects. It is important to note that in the context of an innovation support programme like IK2, IPR does not need to play (and should not play) a central role– it is just a small, yet important, element, used and utilised the right way. Basic know-how transfer on IPR in a strategic context and the ability to refer to IPR specialists are key assets. 143 ANNEX I – CASE STUDIES
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PRO INNO Europe paper N° 4 BENCHMA
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PRO INNO Europe The innovation poli
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Contents Executive Summary 9 1 Intr
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4. Case Study: Innovation by patent
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Executive Summary Background 1. The
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under all circumstances), but rathe
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overall policy level, which primari
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the fact that the business perspect
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and evaluation). Hence, there is a
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20 BENCHMARKING NATIONAL AND REGION
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3 SMEs in the IPR world 3.1 SMEs an
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amount of time (mostly up to 20 yea
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In contrast to arrangements for pat
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3.3 Usage Patterns of IP protection
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industries of the ICT sector. These
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In a study conducted by Kingston (K
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Care must be taken that statements
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The first step to ensure that IP ma
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The patent troll as an SME-affine e
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Table 10 Overview of public availab
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Nr. B* Country Title of the Service
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European Commission Benchmarking na
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ISBN 978-92-79-06926-0 NB-AX-07-004
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