Intellectual property management in innovative small firms

Abstract

This keynote address offers an introductory overview of three key and inter-related business phenomena – small firms, innovation and intellectual property management – that have important repercussions for economic development. The discussion will draw predominantly on the findings of a series of academic research projects that were collectively presented in "Intellectual Property and Innovation Management in Small Firms" (Blackburn R (Ed), Routledge, 2003). The projects all dealt with issues of how small firms used intellectual property rights within their business, either as protection of their intellectual capital or as sources of new information.