Help For Businesses To Unlock Their Intellectual Assets

4th September 2006

Companies in the Highlands and Islands who are interested in exploring new ways of maximising their business opportunities now have the opportunity to take part in an innovative new programme.

Supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the Intellectual Assets Management company development programme aims to help businesses to harness untapped value to help unleash their potential.

An intellectual asset can take many forms, such as knowledge that exists in an organisation that can be used as an advantage. This could be customer relationships, contracts with suppliers, branding and business process as well as many other intangibles which are vital to the competitiveness and future business development.

The programme has been designed to support 20-25 organisations to take active steps to develop intellectual assets management practices. It will run from October to December 2006, comprising of three workshops - two of which will be based in Inverness and the others will be regionally based.

Fiona Jackson from the Intellectual Assets Centre (IA Centre) in Glasgow will be working on the project within the HIE Network over the next six months. The Centre brings together a range of expertise to help organisations realise their potential through managing their intellectual assets.

Fiona said: "We are keen to hear from businesses in the Highlands and Islands who are interested in developing their intellectual assets. Different ways will be explored that could benefit the businesses taking part as well as identifying where the key intangibles lie and learn how to analyse, measure and manage these."

"We are also seeking business coaches who will be able to support companies on these workshops, via telephone, email and one-to-one meetings."

Further details about these opportunities and an online application form for organisations wishing to take part can be found at http://www.hie.co.uk/intellectual-assets or please contact: Fiona Jackson on fìona.jackson[AT]ia-centre.org.uk

 

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