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06 May 2011
The National SME Innovation Alliance has launched a scathing attack on the government over its failure to provide adequate patent protection for SMEs in the technology sector, or to fully exploit the innovation and expertise of small firms.
The open letter (PDF) is addressed to prime minister David Cameron, and is highly critical of the UK's intellectual property system, arguing that most small firms see it as an irrelevance and fear that little will change as a result of the ongoing Hargreaves review.
"The patent system is effectively broken so far as SMEs are concerned. The reality is that the UK offers no effective means of patent enforcement for SMEs in the home market and thus no cash to seek further enforcement abroad," the letter said.
"We live in hope that the current intellectual property review will reflect our reported concerns, but the way in which this review was set up does not fill us with confidence, as we have made clear to Baroness Wilcox and the chairman of the review panel."
The group also pointed to other European nations, namely Germany, as models that the government should follow by placing more importance on protecting innovation in the technology sector.
The letter did acknowledge that the government has made positive noises about doing more for SMEs to get them involved in government IT projects, but said that the SME Innovation Alliance had seen no change in the day-to-day realities.
"After years of governments following a very different course, there remain severe structural barriers that are actively preventing this renaissance," it said.
"Current actions of government are perpetuating the difficulties we face. Given your stated aims we can only presume that this is simple inertia in Whitehall, and perhaps a lack of direct experience and specialist expertise in the Civil Service."
The letter added that a cultural shift is needed in Whitehall to understand that innovation is often driven by the SME market, rather than big corporations or universities.
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We need new leadership for the Civil Service
The most important problem, for the unfunded British inventor; is that the executive government, the Civil Service, remain centred on the idea that they are the leaders of the future industry for the nation. As such, they are always in direct competition for any funding available, and it is their own “projects” that must have priority. We see this with the recent news that the Regional Development Agencies had been using a large proportion of the money made available to them, to purchase assets such as businesses and business premises. We see this again with all the major industrial proposals today seem to stem from Whitehall. In effect, they are in business for themselves and, consequentially, are not minded to support anyone “on the outside” as they are going to become a competitor for their own, internal investments. The net result is they have not the slightest interest in placing any effort behind any developments they do not themselves control. Today, they act as though a separate corporate entity, entirely in business for themselves, (not unlike a form of mafia), in direct competition with the ordinary people of the nation. If you refuse to hand over the keys to your business or product idea, they turn their collective backs and walk away. What we need is an organisation that has been guided by strict new rules to support us as though a part of the national team. In that way, we would always know that they are “always, shoulder to shoulder, on our side”. Today, for absolute certainty, they are not; ever! The challenge must be recognised by The Cabinet Secretary and the Crown, as the leadership of the Civil Service must come from the very top, those directly answering to her Majesty The Queen. We need to see new, strong leadership, creating new rules of engagement for the Civil Service that direct them away from their feudal roots and colonial past and towards recognition that, until our national leaders change the mindset of the Civil Service as an organisation, the nation cannot reach anything like its full potential.
Posted by: Chris Coles 09 May 2011