Intellectual property, innovation and trade secrets are emerging as the next big issue for Australian businesses as they struggle to maintain a competitive advantage and to build new income streams.

Like most of their overseas counterparts, recent studies have shown that between 50% to 85% of the value of local businesses stems from their investment in IP assets.

Results from last month’s Beilby Rewards survey indicated that many Australian companies were taking action to identify their intellectual property and developing strategies to protect their IP assets. 

A significant 66% of all participants said their organisations were actively generating IP resources in the form of patents, trademarks, copyrights and designs. 

Risk management, to protect company secrets and knowhow, emerged as the most pressing need for almost two-thirds of respondents, while a substantial 33% said IP commercialisation, or building revenue from new ideas, products and processes, was a priority.

The results highlighted a potential void between IP protection (which is occurring at a strong level) and the need for strategic management of IP resources to capitalise on their potential as a source of new opportunity and competitive advantage in the market. 

More than 90% of the 200 survey contributors, representing senior executives from a wide range of industries, said they believed their management team had a good understanding of IP while less than half believed that front line staff had an awareness of IP issues. Only 15% indicated a very high awareness of IP issues throughout their entire organisation.