Backed by a comprehensive volume of data, the study is based on no less than 127,000 businesses in the EU, covering the period 2007–2019.
The study isolates the effects of having IPRs, i.e. patents, trademarks or designs, from other factors such as the size of a company, or the countries and sectors in which it operates. The results confirm the positive link between IPR ownership and financial performance. For example, companies with IPR ownership generate 55 per cent more revenue per employee than companies without IPRs.
The positive effect is even more pronounced among SMEs: those that own IPRs generate revenue per employee that is 68 per cent higher than those that own no IPRs at all.
In addition, one of the conclusions of the study is that there is a significant potential among smaller firms to further exploit IPRs: less than 9 per cent of SMEs in Europe own a patent, a trademark or a design, compared with nearly six in ten large companies.