It pays off to emphasize intangible assets and IPR in business strategies, states the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo.
- Economic development based on intellectual property creation is key to growth in the design sector and the Finnish economy, which sets new types of requirements for design-intensive enterprises to reform their business operations, says Ornamo Design Expert Asta Boman-Björkell.
Design as a sector producing intangible assets is one of the main drivers of intellectual property creation emphasized by the current Finnish government.
Enterprises that apply such models average 31 percent higher revenue per employee compared with enterprises that do not apply such models, as revealed by a survey conducted by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO).
Protection of IPR as an investment that boosts corporate value
According to an Ornamo economic survey, an increasingly large share of product value is related to a product’s brand value, usability, related services and other immaterial value creation. The survey concludes that design enterprises and entrepreneurs possess inadequate skills in the management of intellectual property rights.
As the traditional earnings practice changes, the design-intensive business will increasingly focus on the utilization of intellectual property, such as copyrights, utility models and trademarks. Understanding intellectual property creation is a prerequisite for corporate growth.
- IPR protection is seen as an additional expense, although it is an investment that boosts corporate value,” Boman-Björkell affirms.
- The management of intellectual property rights protects a business against violations of IPR and gives assurance to investors and partners. According to corporate surveys conducted by the Confederation of Finnish Industries and Ornamo, only 20 percent of Finnish enterprises utilize design in their operations. Design is utilized by one in three small and medium industrial enterprises.
According to the enterprises surveyed, design can be used to create strong products, services and brands, which can distinguish enterprises from their competitors and enable them to raise the prices of products. For three aspects that every designer should know about intellectual property, read more at www.ornamo.fi/en/article/enterprises-succeed-investing-intellectual-property-creation/
Enterprises face rapidly growing needs for information about the use of intellectual property rights (IPR) in their business strategies. The IPR-intensive industry already represents 50 percent of the entire EU economy, which illustrates a significant shift in the EU economic structure.