Managing knowledge and innovation
- The role of IP
- Who owns my ideas or intangible creations?
- Managing knowledge and innovation
- IP Facts
In the knowledge-based economy, knowledge equals competitive advantage.
In the present knowledge-based economy, successful small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) have become more intelligent in order to be more adaptive and competitive. In fact, many SMEs now consider that their main assets are not so much physical as they are intangible. A company is more knowledgeable by successfully managing its intangible assets such as intellectual capital, including IP assets. In this kind of economic environment a SME's knowledge has become synonymous to competitive advantage.
There is a need to use and protect knowledge more effectively. Competitive advantage can be attributed not only to the ownership of knowledge assets, but also to the company's ability to transfer, assemble, integrate and use its knowledge assets. As soon as the SMEs have realized the correlation between its knowledge and competitive advantage that further translates into higher returns, they have naturally seen the need of focusing on the continuous development, adequate protection and useful application of their knowledge assets. Some knowledge assets may be well protected under Canadian IP laws and also under international treaties on IP. The IP rights represent an important imitation barrier that may be used very effectively by SMEs in highly competitive markets.
