Intellectual Property Office pledges £3m to help UK businesses

IPO says the money will help firms to bring new products to market

The IPO has made more than £6m in savings this year

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO), part of the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills, is to spend £3m supporting UK businesses looking to develop their intellectual property.

The £3m will come from £6m in savings it made this year, totalling 11 per cent of its outgoings. It aims to help more than 300 UK companies and the funding will be for one year only.

The other half of the IPO’s savings will be re-invested in the organisation.

Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox explained that the savings will be used to provide companies with advice around their IP and help them develop new technologies.

“This investment will help businesses carry out new research projects and bring new products to market, as well as offer them extra support in developing their intellectual property,” she said.

“The future of the UK economy lies with high-tech industries. For many innovative firms, their ideas and intellectual property will be their most valuable assets,” she added.

Wilcox said that the savings had been made without damaging front-line services and were instead due to the organisation “identifying and eliminating waste”.

The money will fund competitions and schemes run by the Technology Strategy Board – the Government’s primary channel for promoting innovation. The projects chosen for support would have a significant intellectual property element.

The announcement forms part of a cross-government package, revealed today, aimed at helping small companies.