Intellectual property makes an idea into capital
07.05.2024
The plenary session of the international conference ERA IPQuorum discussion revealed how to turn innovation and creativity into an economic asset.
To achieve the goals outlined in the Concept of Technological Sovereignty and the Concept of Creative Industries, and to implement them rather than turn into a bureaucratic simulation, we need a stable foundation in the form of an institution of intellectual property. This was the conclusion reached by the participants of the plenary session “Intellectual Economy: How to Turn an Idea into Capital”.
According to the discussion moderator, Maria Doroshenko, General Director of LegalPics, the necessity to develop the sphere of industrial property and copyright and related rights in Russia is due to two large-scale strategic documents that set ambitious goals until 2030. The Concept of Technological Sovereignty assumes an increase in investment in R&D from one trillion Rubles to one and a half, the Concept of Creative Industries Development – an increase in the share of creative business in GDP to 6%. How are businesses and government agencies going to achieve such impressive results?
Russian businesses are by far less inclined to underestimate investments in IP, said Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Maxim Kolesnikov: “Investments in (creative results protected by) intellectual property rights today amount to 1.8 trillion Rubles.” Among other things, this is due to the fact that the state is consistently implementing a system of incentives to support creativity and innovation. Among such measures are participation in a special venture direction, getting on startup showcases, loans at 3% per annum under the “Takeoff from Startup to IPO” program and other “growing up” programs. The deputy head of the economic department also announced another long-awaited measure: if companies took creative products into account as intellectual property, rather than just create them and spend funds on research, the costs of their creation would reduce the profit tax with a double coefficient.
The policy of the Ministry of Economic Development in IP area is implemented by Rospatent. According to the department head, Yuri Zubov, it is very important for inventors to see the prospects for the commercialization of their developments. Thanks to the removal of administrative barriers within the framework of the TDC (roadmap for the transformation of the business climate) “Intellectual Property”, the formation of friendly tax regimes, for example, through the “patent box” mechanism, last year it became possible to overcome the decline in patent activity. According to the results of the past year, the growth in the number of invention applications and utility models reached 10 %.
A fair assessment of the income generated by IP is one of the most difficult topics for loans against IP assets. Despite the challenges, Gazprombank has already issued ten loans with such assets. According to the deputy chairperson of the credit institution, Elena Borisenko, to work more actively with loans like this, banks need a comfortable regulatory environment: “Much has already been done for this, but there is room for growth. Intangible assets as a subject of loan create increased risks, because such assets can simply cease to exist through no fault of the borrower. This is why it is so important to share responsibility. In the PRC, such lending is often implemented with the guarantees of a city or region”.
Another problem with attracting repayable funds secured by IP rights, constantly mentioned by the banks, is the lack of a secondary market where the collateral could be sold. The presence of a marketplace would greatly simplify the situation. According to the chairman of the Russian Center for the Circulation of Rights to the Results of Creative Activities (RCIS), Andrey Krichevsky, Russian intellectual property exchanges like IPEX are more alive than dead, but some problems stemming from the Russian national character cannot be denied. “In our country, it’s either a punch in the face or hand in hand. And then, of course, the Russian rebellion. The same is true for innovations. The latest example: marketplaces, like Ozon, Wildberries and others. In a matter of years, Russians have managed to go from their complete rejection to adoration and, finally, the rebellion that we have seen in recent years. Russian platforms for intellectual property are still at the first stage of relationships with their potential clients”.
The problem of exchanges, marketplaces or crowdlending platforms has long been in the conservatism of their main clients rather than in technology. For example, clients of crowdlending platforms – borrowers – either do not register rights to intellectual property, or not ready to pledge it, treating it sacredly, as their own brainchild.
Intellectual property per se, as a special legal regime associated with mandatory or voluntary registration of objects (among other things), cannot by itself turn an idea into a liquid and collateral asset, says Deputy Chairman of VEB.RF Group, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Skolkovo Foundation, Igor Drozdov: “If you have not even reached the prototype stage, have not made a popular, attractive product, no patent registration will help you. Yes, without recording intellectual rights, you will not receive a preferential loan neither included in the Register of Small Technological Companies. But it only underpins your position.”
At the end of the conversation, the participants answered Maria Doroshenko’s question about what could radically improve the situation with IP in Russia. Igor Drozdov and Andrey Krichevsky are sure that it is high competition, without it a legal monopoly loses its meaning. Yuri Zubov highlighted the personnel issue, and Maxim Kolesnikov drew attention to the flexibility and adaptability of Russian policy in science and innovation area.