Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

7. IA Centre Scotland (Scottish
Intellectual Assets Centre)
Country: Scotland, United Kingdom
Original title: Scottish Intellectual Asset Management Limited
Target group: All companies
Coverage: Regional (Scotland)
X (Pro-active) awareness raising measures/Public Relations
Information Provision Services
Category*: Training
Customized in-depth consulting and advisory services/
X
points
Finance & Legal Framework
*classification system defined by the Austrian Institute for SME Research
7.1 IA Centre Scotland in a nutshell
The Scottish IA Centre was chosen as a case study because of its rather unique
character as a service institution deliberately offering IP and IPR support covering
all forms of IP protection methods and having the idea of value-driven IP and IPR
management at the heart of its offerings (rather than a sole increase of patent
activities). The high demand for this service, extensive referral activities, high
satisfaction levels of the users and the considerable impact on the IP usage and
protection strategies of the using firms underline the success of the service and
have led to high reputation levels. Challenges remain with regard to limited
resources.
The Scottish Intellectual Assets Centre aims to demonstrate how intellectual assets
and/or property impacts upon the value of various business segments of an
enterprise and affects therefore i.e. the development of strategies, products,
processes, service markets and supply, and distribution channels. The prime mission
is focussed on addressing existing and potential market failures inhibiting the ability
of Scottish businesses to manage and exploit their intellectual assets (IA).
The IA Centre focuses on three fundamental objectives that support this mission:
� to increase awareness and understanding of intellectual assets issues among
Scottish businesses and other organisations;
� to enable Scottish businesses to manage and exploit the untapped potential of
their intellectual assets for competitive advantage;
� to encourage the development of a strong, private sector-led supply of IPR/
intellectual asset management services;
In a more operational manner, the IA Centre’s intention is to identify those
intellectual assets of a organisation which drive value. Once identified, the service
will assist the organisation in suggesting options for safeguarding and exploiting
the intellectual assets. In many cases, the implementation of those suggestions
requires the intervention of intellectual property rights specialists. At this stage, the
services guide, direct, and signpost the organisation to the most appropriate
supplier of IA management.
The service consists of training and advice sessions with organisations in order to
help them to identify IA management issues, appropriate tools and service
providers. This session can be one-to-one or with a group of companies.
Interventions with individual organisations tend to be fairly short, about one third
are less than 4 hours and the rest between 4 hours and 2 days.
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ANNEX I – CASE STUDIES