IP sector under pressure amid COVID-19, new report reveals
Nearly nine in ten IP professionals (88%) have confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected their organisation or strategy in some way, while 40% said this impact was severe, according to a new report by IP services provider, NovumIP.
The report, “ IP industry outlook 2021”, released yesterday, January 12, examined the effect of the present economic climate on IP portfolios and budgets, and assessed the biggest challenges and opportunities facing IP professionals in 2021.
Survey responses were collected from over 500 IP professionals across the UK, France, Germany, China and the US between October and December 2020, representing a broad spectrum of industries, companies and IP roles.
According to the research, the IP sector in France was the worst affected in the wake of the pandemic, with 60% of IP professionals witnessing a severe impact. Germany fared best amid COVID-19, with nearly a third of IP professionals (29%) claiming they had experienced no impact.
Across industry sectors, IP professionals in healthcare and retail were the seemingly least affected. Respondents from the retail sector reported the lowest impact, with 23% reporting no change at all, followed by healthcare where 16% said the same.
This contrasts starkly with the electronics and semiconductors and engineering, construction and energy sectors, in which 58% and 59% of IP practitioners respectively stated they had been severely impacted.
IP challenges
NovumIP’s research also revealed that IP filing and prosecution strategies had been hard hit by the pandemic, with only 16% seeing no change as a result of COVID; 49% reporting a minor impact and 28% confirming a severe impact.
The areas which saw the highest levels of severe impact were incoming work from business units/clients (32%), buying behaviour, including choice of supplier (32%), and portfolio growth plans, including acquisitions (31%).
IP professionals working in advisory services, patent filing and prosecution, and investment in technology have been hit hardest by budget cuts, with 33%, 35% and 33% respectively saying budgets were lower than pre-COVID in these areas. At least 10% of respondents reported increased budgets in each of the categories.
The “total cost of IP management and ownership” was voted the number one challenge by IP professionals globally (37%).
“Finding the right services or suppliers” was selected by many as a serious challenge, but this differed by industry; 39% of IP professionals from the technology, media and telecom sector agreed, compared to just 26% in professional and financial Services.
As 2020 became the first year of consistent working from home for many, “remote working/access to technology” was also high on the list of challenges faced by IP professionals.
This proved to be more of a problem for in-house professionals, with three in ten struggling, compared to those at IP or law firms, where less than two in ten saw it as a challenge.
The perception of IP as a cost, rather than an investment, remains an issue for many: 29% of global IP professionals struggled to communicate the value of IP to internal stakeholders, rising to more than double in China, at 59%.
Industries are also affected in different ways: the TMT sector emerged as the worst affected, with 44% reporting challenges in demonstrating IP value, compared to the healthcare sector, in which just 20% of respondents said the same.
Post-COVID-19 outlook
However, the research also revealed that more than six in ten IP professionals were confident that their organisation would emerge from the pandemic in “good shape”.
Despite being the most affected by the pandemic, French respondents were most optimistic about their recovery (74% very confident), while German IP professionals were the least optimistic, with only 42% very confident and 10% unsure.
Results differed between respondents from different company types too, with respondents working in-house most confident (72% said very confident), followed by those at IP or law firms (64%), SMEs and start-ups (59%), public sector (59%) and finally universities and research institutes (49%).
Reinhard Ottway, chairman of NovumIP, said: “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact trade and the global economy, it’s inevitable that IP professionals will see further impacts on their organisations and IP strategies. With budgets under increasing pressure, the need to justify costs and demonstrate IP value will only increase, adding further scrutiny to the work of both in-house IP departments and IP law firms.”
He added: “When times are tough, IP assets have been shown not only to help businesses to survive, but also to help companies and economies to thrive. By identifying industry priorities for the coming years, we hope our research will help IP owners and their external advisers to protect and maximise the value of their IP assets, and to come out of the pandemic in a stronger position.”
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