By World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)

 

IP Guide for SMEs 

 

Modern SMEs

Internet Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship: Barriers and Keys To Success

ICT for SMEs

Internet Power

Customer-focused Website

Social Media Marketing

Small Business Growth Strategies

e-Ventures

Guidelines on Technology Management for SMEs

Enterprise survey and technology auditing

Formulation of a Technology Strategy

Technology-driven Business Strategy

Competitive Excellence

Why is IP Relevant to Your SME?

IP for Competitiveness and Development

Why is IP Critical to Marketing of Your Products?

How Can IP Enhance the Market Value of Your SME?

How Can IP Enhance Export Opportunities?

Case Studies

Business Financing

Venture Financing Funnel

Using IP Assets to Finance Your Business

IP Management

Primer on IPR

Start-Up Company's IP Strategies

Protecting Your Business Name

Managing Intellectual Assets of Your SME

Auditing Your IP

Developing IP Strategy

How can Your SME Acquire and Maintain IPR?

Protecting the IPR of Your SME Abroad

Protecting Trade Secrets of Your SME

Licensing of IPR

Trademarks

Protecting Your Business Name

Why Trademarks are Relevant to Your SME?

Trademark Registration

Patents

Using Patent Information

Turning Your Inventions into Profit-making Assets

Procedures for the Grant and Maintenance

Utility Models

Protecting Innovations by Utility Models

Copyright

How Can Your SME Benefit from Copyright

Resolving Disputes

How To Resolve Disputes Related to IP?

One way your SME may acquire a better position to capitalize on the potential benefits of its IP assets and extract their full value is by conducting an IP audit.

Systemic Innovation: 7 Areas

Ideally, this should be done by professional IP auditors, but often a preliminary IP audit may be done within your company. This entails identifying, monitoring, valuing your SME’s IP assets so as to make sure that you are making the most out of them. By doing so, your SME would be able to make informed decisions when it comes to:

  • Acquiring IP assets – Knowledge of your company’s intellectual property and of its value will assist you in deciding which type of IP rights to acquire and maintain, and how best to manage the IP assets of your SME (see “How Can Your SME Acquire and Maintain IP Protection?” and "Managing the IP Assets of Your SME")

  • Mergers and acquisitions – Good knowledge of what IP assets your SME owns can lead to a significant increase in the value of your SME. This is because investors would value a company on the basis of their expectations of future profits, which may, to a considerable extent, be based on the exploitation of IP rights.

  • Licensing – Your SME can increase its cash flow (revenue) by licensing out its IP rights to a third party (see “Licensing of Intellectual Property. A Vital Component of the Business Strategy of Your SME”). An IP audit will assist your SME in determining the value of your own IP in order to obtain maximum benefit from license agreements.  The revenue resulting therefrom has the potential of increasing the market value of your SME.

  • Collateral - A well-structured IP portfolio can also be used as collateral. In such cases lenders will use your IP assets to determine the credit worthiness of your SME (see “Can Your SME Use Intellectual Property Assets for Financing?”).

  • Enforcement – Knowing the value of your IP assets will assist your SME in taking decisions on whether it is worthwhile taking action against infringement and in what way this may be done on a case by case basis.

  • Cost reduction – A well managed IP register would help you identify obsolete IP assets (thus enabling you to cut-down IP asset maintenance costs), avoid infringing other peoples IP rights, etc. This would undoubtedly lead to a reduction in costs.

By establishing a culture of identifying and cultivating IP assets and strategically using them, an enterprise can increase its revenue, have an edge over its competitors and position itself well in the market; these are strategies that may lead to an increased market value of your SME.