To e or not to e? Its not even a question!

I would love to consider myself a jet setter but I am really not.  Yet here I am again stuck on an airplane (the 4th of 9 this month).  This one however is slightly different as I am on my way home from the PATLIB2016 conference that has been held in the beautiful city of Helsinki.

When I'm sat on a plane cruising along at 36,000ft I can't help but think about intellectual property.  Whether it's the patents in the wing keeping us aloft, the branding of the cola I'm drinking or the copyright in the movie I am watching on my pad, It is almost literally everywhere.  I am one of those who takes my job home with me and like nothing better than to lecture my friends on the ethics of illegal downloading or spotting the incorrect reference to IP on a well-known super hero movie (shame on you Pepper). Anyway I digress.

I have only been working closely with the Patlib network for around 12 months but cannot help but be impressed with what service is offered, especially on such small budgets. The conference was a good way to close up my first year in my role as the IPO's liaison to the network as it allowed me to see how great a job the Patlib UK network does with such tight constraints placed on them.

There was a theme of digitalisation that run through much of the conference which kicked off with an interesting keynote from Taneli Tikka talking about the industrial Internet and the future of technology including the use of water less showers (isn't that's what students do already?).

As we moved through the conference it was clear that the need for Patlibs and national offices to have a strong online presence has never been more important.  Everyone knows that if a question needs answering Google will provide an answer. The problem is that it wont just provide one answer. There will be loads of organisations and lots of sites all offering the same help and advice.  The truth for businesses and business advisers alike is that to succeed you need to stay ahead of the game.

With the relaunch of this blog and most UK Patlib centers having received Social Media training I am pleased to say that the UK is pushing ahead when it comes to being online and we are once again leading the way among Patlibs throughout Europe.

That being said there is always more than can be done. Business support organisations, like the businesses we advise, need to continually innovate to stay ahead of the game or run the risk of being consigned to history like the dinosaurs or Chesney Hawkes. 

Andrew Reith
    May 2016