The UK economy is set to miss out on billions of pounds in value as British companies, particularly SMEs, fail to patent their innovations in key overseas markets. The warning comes in a report: Innovations & Patents in the United Kingdom released by the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) which says that British businesses are falling behind other European companies in the international patent protection of technology.
The report calls for the UK government to work with expert bodies and industry to develop a strategy that goes beyond the services provided by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office. CIPA also backs SCI’s call for a Science & Innovation Growth Council that will help grow innovative industry.
Setting out the scale of the problem CIPA’s report indicates that British businesses are filing patents in key markets of Europe and China at rates of up to 40% less than French and German companies. Adding to the concerns, data from the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) Global Innovation Index 2023 shows that the UK is lagging leading economies in all measures related to patents relative to GDP, coming in 16th to 20th place globally.
The situation is negatively impacting the UK’s economy with CIPA’s report noting that companies, including SMEs, that do own patents have 36% higher revenues and 53% higher salaries than those that do not own registered IP rights.
“The findings are loud and clear – innovative UK companies are missing opportunities in key markets because of a failure of international patent filing and strategy,” said CIPA President Matt Dixon. “This is a situation that has been ongoing for some years and has major implications for UK growth. As an organisation that exists to help businesses to protect their ideas, CIPA wants to support businesses and provide confidence in intellectual property, a system which can seem complicated,” Dixon added.
Matt Dixon, CIPA President.
Warning that the patent problem is associated with a “wider demise of innovative and commercial scientific activity in the UK,” which will decline even faster without government intervention, SCI’s CEO Sharon Todd said: “The lack of UK patent filings is a key indicator that the health of our science-based industry is suffering. The UK cannot afford to stand still while other economies become leaders in green tech, new medicines and food production. We too need to propel our economy forward to create skilled jobs and protect the security of supply of products we rely on every day.”
SCI’s Manifesto for an Industrial Science and Innovation Strategy, released last year, calls for a Science and Innovation Growth Council of industry experts to advise central government on policy to grow innovative industry which will add jobs and boost the UK’s economy.
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