The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is inviting businesses to share their views on how intellectual property (IP) helps them scale and grow.
In a modern global economy, innovation, creativity, design, and brand recognition are increasingly important to business success. All these elements are underpinned by IP rights, such as copyright, trademarks, patents, and designs.
The IPO wants to support businesses to manage their IP rights effectively. It is conducting a review of UK's IP-backed finance ecosystem and IP insurance landscape. The new survey forms part of this review.
The survey covers a broad range of topics. Responses will help the IPO:
- better understand how businesses may raise external finance - including leveraging their IP assets to secure funding;
- explore awareness, perception and use of IP litigation insurance products among businesses; and
- better understand how to support businesses most effectively in managing their IP assets. The IPO wants to hear from businesses of all sizes, and from a wide range of sectors, which hold IP - whether an individual entrepreneur, start-up, established firm, or large corporate. The survey closes on 2 February 2024. See: [IP and Business Growth Survey - Intellectual Property Office - Citizen Space](https://ipoconsultations.citizenspace.com/ipo/ip-and-business-growth-survey/#IPandBSWeb)
For the first time, government departments have set individual targets for how much they will spend with small and medium-sized businesses (SME). In total, the government plans to spend £7.4 billion a year with SMEs by 2028.
For shareholders of owner-managed companies, dividends are still one of the most tax-efficient ways to take money out of the company. But with these increases coming in, it will be worth taking a fresh look at your extraction strategy.
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