Making the most of IP

West Midlands companies are being given the chance to tap into a £450,000 programme offering grants of up to £24,500 to help them make the most of their inventions, designs and brands.

Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands has provided the funding to the West Midlands Intellectual Property Forum (Fillip), a group of business representatives and intellectual property professionals.

The group – which is led by Coventry University Enterprises and funded by Advantage West Midlands – was set up to help businesses appreciate the importance of intellectual property and to provide training on how to commercialise it.

The fund was launched at the Fillip Conference in Coventry and small and medium enterprises will be able to apply for funding to protect and exploit the value of their intellectual property, such as patents, designs and trade marks.

The fund can cover up to 90 per cent of IP audit costs and 80 per cent of commercialisation costs for selected companies.

'Successful exploitation and commercialisation of skills, processes, branding and reputation can all make a major difference to the competitiveness of companies. This was the reason the West Midlands Intellectual Property Forum was launched and the Advantage West Midlands investment in the fund will reap great rewards for businesses going forward,' said Claire Holden, Advantage West Midlands Business and Professional Services Cluster Manager.

For more information on the fund go to www.fillip.org.uk.

Successful applicants must qualify for SME status (roughly fewer than 250 employees and less than £50m turnover) and have applications in by 31 July 2007.