As Synergy Holdings has detailed: “The biggest opportunities and threats to today’s business leaders come from harnessing and protecting the power of corporate knowledge and the resulting intellectual property (IP).”
A case in point
In a case in point of how Companies can harness intellectual property (IP) to increase employee productivity – UK-based Leonardo Helicopters explains its own experience in a recent article in Vertical. The article details a report by independent analysis group Oxford Analytics – which highlights the role UK-generated IP is playing in helping the country recovery from the current pandemic-related economic downturn.
The report noted that Leonardo employees are 80% more productive than the average UK employee – largely because of globally tradeable IP which the company generates from the work of its’ high-skilled UK-based engineers. Leonardo employs 7,500 people across the UK.
In one example of how the company has been able to leverage IP and preserve local design and manufacturing jobs is its’ production of a UK military helicopter onshore – where for every 1 GBP invested in the company – it put back 2.40 GBP into the local economy. In this case, by creating IP in the UK, Leonardo was able to continue to employ highly skilled workers locally – while also generating exports.
Notably, as Leonardo’s Chair and UK MD Norman Bone has said – the company has created some of the UK’s “most stable jobs” – and did not “furlough anyone during the COVID-19 crisis” – thereby further benefitting local economies. Bone credits the UK Government, working alongside Leonardo, for its’ commitment to Britain’s high-tech engineering sector.
Assess and optimize your IP
The example of Leonardo in the UK can be instructive for other companies who may wish to align their IP to increase employee productivity, which in turn also increases revenue and profit to the business. By conducting an analysis and determining strategic deployment of all corporate IP and assets – companies can optimally position themselves to achieve these objectives.
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