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More SME owners apply to protect their ideas

Published On 4 June 2007 at 14:11:25

Television programmes like Dragon's Den are encouraging more and more people to try to start their own small business, official figures indicate.

Data released by the UK Intellectual Property Office shows that 30 per cent of all patent applications in the first quarter of 2007 came from individuals looking to start their own businesses.

"Britain remains a nation of inventors, taking their ingenuity from the garden shed to commercial success. Entrepreneurs and the passion of those who appear on shows like Dragon's Den can really inspire innovation," explained science and innovation minister Malcolm Wicks.

Recently, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that it was vital the government acted to help small businesses protect their intellectual property and inventions.

"Small businesses produce sixty per cent of commercial innovations in the UK and it is vital to the country’s economic success that their ideas are supported, not stolen," explained Mike Cherry, the FSB's financial affairs chairman.

"If a small business can protect their ideas and bring them to market it will reward them for those ideas and encourage others to follow in their footsteps, safe in the knowledge that they will benefit from their innovation."

 

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