Intellectual Property is essential for business growth and investor confidence

[Julian Crump, International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI) President, March 2021, WIPO Magazine, “IP protection: building value and growth for small businesses,” , accessed: 7-10-24, ES]

Creating valuable IP assets to demonstrate market potential - Ceres Power is a company with patented "deep technology" that has a wide range of clean energy applications and has become a hugely valuable asset. However, had commercialization specialists, IP Group Plc, not stepped in at a critical moment, the company would likely have declared bankruptcy following the failure of initial field trials. IP Group works with early-stage companies that own IP originating from university research to get them to a point where they can demonstrate the real-world viability of their technology to attract co-investment from large corporates and ultimately acquisition. IP Group's Dr. Rob Trezona told me, "IP is a table stake. If our portfolio companies haven't secured their IP rights, they won't be able to raise finance. And typically, investors are looking for a number of patents rather than one or two." Key to IP Group’s successful turnaround of Ceres was the realization that its world-class IP position would allow it to generate more value as a technology provider that jointly develops and licenses technology than as a vertically integrated manufacturing business. The company has partnered successfully with Bosch, Doosan and Weichai Power to develop products for data centers, distributed generation and heavy road vehicles, and is able to generate value for itself through license fees and royalties.