Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

Overall speaking, the users were very satisfied with WITK; all surveyed users
considered the extent of the service offerings to be adequate and declared that the
benefits of using this service clearly outweighed the efforts of using it.
Additionality of the service
In order to answer the question whether a support service works or does not work,
one should also inquire into the added value of the service – i.e., what would have
happened in case the service was absent. This is done in order to isolate a “net
effect” as opposed to things which would have happened anyway, despite of the
service. Similarly, also other type of changes incurred within the enterprise, as a
result of using the service, are to be recorded (these changes are referred to as
“behavioural additionality”).
The overall aim of the campaign, to present IPR know-how on a general, awareness
raising level, seems to be clearly reached with the interviewed users (see Graph 77).
According to the user survey, the most prominent changes concern general IPR
awareness, which increased for 11 out of 13 users, and patent knowledge in the
business environment (increased for 11 users). What can be seen at a glance is that
the attitudes towards rather informal protection methods have changed, too, but
to a much lesser extent.
All surveyed users considered the competence of the staff involved in a service
similar to WITK as very important. In addition, the ease of access and identification
and timely delivery were also felt to be key factors. Interestingly, referral possibilities
and individual contacts were not seen to be important for such a service.
6.3 Elements of good practice
The WITK campaign acts as an entry point to the world of IPR by addressing the
issue of IP management for SMEs, raising awareness in this field and presenting
hands-on practical examples of how companies may benefit from protecting and
managing their intellectual assets. In this light, WITK exhibits the following success
factors (resp. good practice elements):
� Competence of staff: experienced experts in law, management and
commercialisation, hold presentations about relevant topics concerning legal
protection instruments;
Graph 77 Behavioural additionality of WITK offerings, number of
respondents*)
Patent knowledge in business environment
General awareness
Knowledge management Know-How
Design pattern/utility model usage in IPR strategy
IPR training
Trademark usage in IPR strategy
Formal IPR responsibilities within enterprise
Copyright usage in IPR strategy
Patent usage in IPR strategy
(Trade) secrecy usage in IPR strategy
Reliance on lead-time advantage in IPR strategy
Out-licensing
Reliance on design complexity in IPR strategy
*) multiple answers allowed. Source: User Survey, n = 13
-2
-1
-1
-1
3
3
4
In-licensing
2
-4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10
N
12
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
11
11
increased decreased
173
ANNEX I – CASE STUDIES