Today's World Intellectual Property Day is celebrating SMEs. The possibilities provided by intellectual property (IP) allow them to turn their ideas into a business opportunity.

Under the motto ‘IP & SMEs: taking your ideas to market’, this year's World IP Day focuses on the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the economy, and how they can use IP to become more competitive and resilient. SMEs in Switzerland account for 99% of all companies.

 

For these SMEs, too, everything started with an idea that found its way to market. When such an idea is nurtured with ingenuity, know-how and flair, it becomes intellectual property, which can drive business development, economic recovery and human progress.

 

Remember to protect your business assets

 

Everyone can use IP rights to protect and extract value from their business assets. Yet many are not aware that they own IP or that it has any value, which means that they are missing out on opportunities to improve their bottom line and grow. Studies show that when companies are IP savvy, and when they acquire and manage IP rights, they perform better.

 

World IP Day is celebrated every year on 26 April by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. National organisations, including the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI), are also marking the day with their own events and content.

 

Use our tools for SMEs to bring your idea reliably to market

 

• Everything you need to know for your company: SME portal
• IP strategies for your SME and the secret of licencing: Our checklists (Document & Links)
• From an idea to a protected design: An entrepreneur tells her story
• SMEs globally: WIPO case studies
• Find out more about World IP Day here