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.