European companies with registered intellectual property rights (IPRs) have more employees and higher salaries, inform the Patent Office.
The European Observatory of Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has been implementing a socio-economic research program in collaboration with the European Patent Office (EPO) for almost ten years. Its purpose is to assess the contribution to the economy of the European Union (EU) as a whole and to the economy of individual EU member states by industries that widely use different types of IPR.
The latest study – “Industries with extensive use of IPR and EU economic development” delves into the role of IPR, analyzing a sample of over 127,000 large European companies. The results of economic activity in the companies that registered their IPRs and those that were not compared. The study includes data on companies from all 27 EU Member States and Great Britain.
The intellectual property rights included in the study include patent, trademark and design rights. Due to the specificity, copyright, plant variety rights and geographical indications are not included in this study. Income per employee is set as the main performance indicator of companies.
Companies with protected intellectual property rights have an average number of employees almost three times higher than those that have not registered their rights.
Similarly, companies with protected intellectual property rights have, on average, a turnover per employee that is 20% higher than those that do not, while operating results are on average 36% higher for patents, 21% higher. % for brands and 32% for designs.
The data shows that the average wage level is 19% higher in companies with registered IPR. Ownership of patents, designs and trademarks results in the largest wage increases.
The highest IPR intensity is in the information and communication sector, where 18% of companies own IPR. Industrial production and service providers follow with 14%.
The revenue per employee for IPR holders is 55% higher than for non-IPR holders. Analysis shows that this relationship is particularly pronounced in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where income per employee is up to 68% higher than those that have not registered their IPR.
The study results confirm that, judging by income per employee and average pay, there is a compelling positive relationship between IPR ownership and company performance. However, it should be remembered that the statistics must be interpreted with caution, as they are not unambiguous evidence confirming that encouraging companies to use more IPRs will necessarily improve their performance.
The positive relationship between IPR ownership and the results of economic activity is particularly pronounced among SMEs. At the same time, less than 9% of the sampled SMEs have registered their IPRs. There are several reasons for this: insufficient knowledge of IPR, the perception that registration procedures are complicated and expensive.
Taking into account the importance of SMEs in the European economy, the EPO and the EUIPO implement the SME Fund – “Ideas for a stronger business” program, which offers the opportunity for all European small and medium-sized enterprises to use the benefits of innovation and intellectual property.
