Corporate report

Intellectual Property Office Innovation and Growth Report 2023/24 (HTML)

Published 11 September 2024

Introduction

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has a statutory duty under section 21 of the Intellectual Property Act 2014, to lay before Parliament an annual report on how its activities have contributed to the promotion of innovation and economic growth in the UK. This Innovation and Growth Report highlights the role of the IPO during 2023/24 in supporting the UK’s innovation ecosystem and its economic growth.

Intellectual Property (IP) matters. IP helps accelerate innovation, investment, and growth across the UK economy, allowing innovators to protect their creations through the interconnected system of rights: primarily trade marks, patents, copyright, and designs. This is vital for contributing to economic growth and productivity, creating more and better paid jobs in the industries of today and the future. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) ranks the UK as the world’s fourth most innovative economy. The UK is ranked 2nd in the US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center’s International IP Index 2024.

The role of the Intellectual Property Office

The Intellectual Property Office is an Arm’s Length Body of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). By working to accelerate innovation, investment, and productivity, DSIT acts as an engine of change and is the driving force behind the government’s mission to grow the UK’s economy through world-class science, technology, and research. Through our refreshed IPO Strategy 2024-2027 and ambitious digital transformation programme, we are ready to play our part in delivering this mission to position the UK at the forefront of global scientific and technological advancement and drive innovations that change lives and sustain economic growth.

Our mission at the IPO is to help grow the UK economy by providing an IP system that encourages investment in creativity and innovation, to do this we must focus on where we can achieve the greatest impact – boosting investment and innovation in technologies and sectors in line with the government’s ambition.

Our contribution to Innovation & Growth in 2023/24

Providing high-quality, timely and cost-effective IP registration services is central to how the IPO supports science, creativity, and innovation to help grow the economy. We achieve consistently high levels of customer satisfaction and one of the key drivers of this is our continued high performance against our stretching customer service standards. This high level of performance is against a backdrop of increased demand for our services in 2023/24.  Most patent grants were in the instruments, electric and transport sectors. Trade mark registrations centred around the scientific, advertising, business management, education, entertainment, sporting, and cultural classes. The highest number of design applications were in the clothing haberdashery, recording and communication, games, toys, and sports goods classes.

Our services continued to undergo a transformation that will make working with IP easier for everyone and enhance the value that the IPO adds to the UK economy. By 2026 our customers will be able to protect and manage their UK IP portfolio via a common, digital system that allows us to use cutting edge technology to deliver significant operational efficiencies for both them and us

This is a fundamental part of how we will deliver the level of services our customers expect – through a modern digital infrastructure and a single, integrated system in line with the government’s focus on providing the best digital services to customers and citizens. During 2023/ 24 we took significant steps forward in the delivery of our transformation programme making it easier for users both now and in the future to bring their innovations to market, a clear example of innovative digital transformation.

We proudly represented the UK at international bodies, shared best practice and led global conversations, helping to shape a balanced and effective international IP system. We supported negotiations for substantive IP chapters in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) maximising IP opportunities to drive innovation and creativity with the aim of bringing trading partners’ IP standards closer to the UK’s. Through our attaché network we continued bilateral engagement with overseas governments and offered direct business support and advice on local IP matters to UK companies.

We empowered innovative Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with financial support to help them maximise the value of their IP. Through our audit scheme and partnerships, we provided nearly £1 million to 389 businesses, helping them identify and leverage their IP assets. We assessed our support strategies for SMEs, implementing new plans to enhance our services and interventions, ensuring SMEs fully grasp the value of IP.

We created a Missions and Technology function to look at emerging technologies and innovations and their impacts on the IP system. This allowed us to monitor fast moving issues such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure the IPO is best placed to contribute to the rise in these innovative technologies.

We continued to play a key role in disrupting IP crime and protecting innovation by working with our partners to raise awareness and understanding of the harm caused by IP infringement in all its forms. Counterfeit goods are the second largest source of criminal income worldwide and our long-term objective is to shift public attitude to make IP infringement increasingly socially unacceptable.  We provided significant support to Greater Manchester Police to tackle counterfeit goods related criminal activity in the Greater Manchester area. Over 1,000 tonnes of items were seized, with an estimated value of over £1.5 billion and we ran a series of educational campaigns to help educate consumers and protect them from the potential harm caused by counterfeit goods. On an international scale, our attaché for Latin America and the Caribbean collaborated with our colleagues at the UK Mission in Brazil, and the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) to take down illegal streaming services in Brazil, Peru, and the UK. This resulted in the takedown of 606 pirate sites and 19 illegal streaming apps.

We intend to integrate this report into our Annual Report and Accounts in future years to present a unified and comprehensive perspective of both our organisational performance and our contribution to innovation and growth.