As well as supporting individual firms, Inngot conducts influential research into the IP issues that matter most: how IP is accounted for, how it can be leveraged for finance, and how far law and regulation are keeping pace with digital technology.

IP issues are increasingly central to key policy decisions. We live in a world where businesses invest one-third more in ‘soft’ intangibles than they do in ‘hard’ tangibles; where over 80% of listed company value is no longer attributable to physical assets on the balance sheet; where between 30-40% of business sale values are routinely attributed to identifiable intangibles (before considering goodwill); and where IP licensing incomes in growth economies are rising by $billions per annum (sources: Imperial College/IPO, Ocean Tomo, Deloitte/KPMG, World Bank).

The Inngot team has a solid understanding of these issues and offers experience gained in a number of high profile and influential projects, some of which are featured below. If you are looking for a reliable research partner to investigate IP policy matters – look no further.

Recent research publications

Inngot has led several influential and informative published research studies in the UK and internationally. Here are some selected highlights.

Fostering the Use of Intangibles to Strengthen SME Access to Finance (OECD, 2019) sets out how intangible assets can be relevant for SMEs to obtain external funding; the challenges and opportunities in this area; and the rationale for policy intervention. It provides some policy trends from a selected group of countries and concludes with some issues to be considered by governments to foster the use of intangibles for SME access to finance. Research covers policy approaches and private sector activities in countries including China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States It was written by Martin Brassell, CEO of Inngot, and Kris Boschmans, policy analyst at the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development, part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Hidden Value (UK IPO, 2017) investigates why comparatively few companies routinely examine the financial value of their intellectual property and intangible assets market. The 140 pp report is co-authored by Inngot CEO Martin Brassell and Dr Jackie Maguire of Firm Advantage, formerly CEO of Coller IP Management. The report investigates the structure of the market, the drivers for IP valuation, the barriers to more efficient functioning, and potential solutions to overcome them. In the process, it estimates the extent of IP valuation activity in the UK, the approaches used, and the question of competition. It concludes that there is room for further education and additional incentives, including more focus on lending and investment, and sets out the need for dialogue between agencies, accounting and industry bodies on ways to introduce voluntary IP statements.

Accounting for Innovation (ACCA, NESTA, AIM, 2016) This report presents the results of a pilot project, testing the utility of an Innovation Accounting Tool to help small and medium-sized businesses quantify their investment in intangible assets. The Tool is based on the Malaysian National Corporate Innovation Index. The aim is to establish how innovation can be measured and accounted for. It builds upon the findings from the 2015 ACCA report, Innovation, Intangibles and Integrated Reporting (see below). The report was co-authored by Inngot CEO Martin Brassell and Dr Benjamin Reid of Nesta, the UK’s innovation charity, with the partnership of ACCA, the Malaysian Innovation Agency, AIM, and NESTA.

Penalty Fair? (UK IPO, 2015) is a study of the criminal sanctions available under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, focusing especially on the different regimes applicable to online and physical infringement. The report is co-authored by Martin Brassell and Dr Ian Goodyer, both of Inngot. This report formed the basis for a consultation exercise on amending UK copyright law.

Intangibles, Intellectual Property and Integrated Reporting (ACCA, 2015) documents a pilot study of Malaysian small and medium sized enterprises establishing their capacity to identify investment in innovation. The report is co-authored by Inngot CEO Martin Brassell and Dr Benjamin Reid of Nesta, the UK’s innovation charity. Watch a video of the launch event explaining the scope and findings of this work here.

Banking on IP? (UK IPO, 2013) investigates the role of IP in facilitating business finance. The 224 pp report is co-authored by Inngot CEO Martin Brassell and Kelvin King of Valuation Consulting. At its publication, Business Secretary Vince Cable commented: “Too often, through risk aversion or banks’ conservative lending practices linked to property as security, IP is not catered for by traditional bank lending. Intellectual Property is too important an asset to be undervalued by banks who are the main source of finance. That is why I commissioned a report to explore how we can improve SMEs’ access to capital. We will look carefully at its recommendations in order to better support this country’s creators and IP-rich businesses.”

Special Assignments

Inngot has undertaken IP policy work for a range of clients, including government-funded programmes. Here are some examples.
  • The National Corporate Innovation Index (NCII). Inngot was retained by the Malaysian Innovation Agency, AIM, to provide specialist advice on intangible assets in 2013/14, working with the UK’s innovation charity, Nesta. The NCII project concerned the development and calibration of a tool to quantify the ‘return on innovation’ being achieved by participating Malaysian PLCs. NCII was launched at the inaugural 2014 Innovating Malaysia conference – watch the video explaining the initiative here – and is now being rolled out nationally.
  • Knowledge Exchange Hubs, 2013-15. Inngot has provided ongoing intellectual property support for the experimental business models being developed by four university consortia, sponsored by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council, all aimed at establishing new ways for businesses and academics to co-create.
  •  The Beacon Project on Intellectual Property and Open Source (for the Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network, 2011). This six-month research project examined the role of IP in the digital context, and how it supports direct and indirect methods of value creation. Information gathering involved a combination of expert interviews, small and large workshop gatherings and a large online survey, analysed by the Inngot team. It was launched to coincide with the publication of Digital Opportunity, otherwise known as the Hargreaves Review.

Articles and publications

As well as work commissioned by government agencies and industry bodies, Inngot has also demonstrated its leadership in the IP policy debate by initiating publications of its own.

Inngot co-founder Professor Iwan Davies has published a number of articles and books on secured financing. One of the key articles to understand the basis on which IP can be used as security for financing is set out in his 2006 paper for the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Secured Financing of Intellectual Property Assets and the Reform of English Personal Property Security Law(Volume 26, Issue 3, pp 559-583).

Inngot CEO Martin Brassell co-authored a work for Oxford University Press, published in Spring 2016. Economic Approaches to Intellectual Property was written jointly with Dr Nicola Searle of Goldsmiths College, formerly a member of the UK Intellectual Property Office’s economics team, and investigates the effect IP has on markets and society.

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