The importance of developing and protecting intellectual property

The work that scientists carry out every day, promoting the advancement of technology and intellectual capital, turns out to be an important raw material for innovation, an essential tool to accelerate the economic and technological development of countries, in a robust and sustained way.
The patent system is designed to promote and drive innovation, through the protection of authorship and ownership over inventions. Safeguarding ownership over inventions through intellectual property protection mechanisms allows corporations, enterprises and even natural persons to have rights over them, and thus ensure a certain competitive advantage during the commercial exploitation phase.
Invention patents, one of the intellectual protection mechanisms, normally grant exclusive property rights for a period of 20 years. At this time, the owner of the invention may, exclusively, choose to exploit it in different ways, either through the development of a commercial product or service or from the assignment or transfer of rights to such invention to a third party.
For a venture or corporation that invests in research and development, patents represent a way to protect its innovative findings and at the same time are transformed into assets of the company, and can be valued. According to the Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Marco Alemán, “studies carried out in the European Union show how SMEs that have intellectual property have a higher income return by up to 65%, of those that do not”.
In highly competitive markets, the intellectual protection of new inventions and technologies allows science-based enterprises to be one step ahead in conquering greater market share. In addition, increased revenue from proprietary technologies encourages reinvestment in new research and development and innovation projects and initiatives.
This is true in countries where there are mechanisms that allow the enforcement of the property rights granted, that is, it is useless to have an invention patent if there is no sanction for its infringement. In the national context, positive figures have been evidenced. In the last three years there has been a 32% increase in applications for enterprises to obtain patents in Chile. This data is aligned with greater investments in innovation projects, public and private, which is very positive for the economic and technological development of the country.
In the current scenario, what we see is that for small and medium-sized enterprises, the processing of intellectual property rights, mainly at the international level, usually brings with them a significant cost, which cannot always be leveraged by a small or medium-sized company. Programs to promote and support intellectual protection play a role here that is often fundamental, mainly for those enterprises that do not have the financial structure to move towards the protection of their intellectual assets.

Promoting support for technological innovation and strengthening the intellectual protection system are important efforts that contribute to boosting the competitiveness and development of scientific-technological enterprises, contributing to the economic development of the country.

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The content expressed in this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.

Original source in Spanish