New Innovation & Growth Report

We have published our latest report Promoting innovation and growth: The IPO at work 2020-21 setting out our contribution to incentivising UK innovation and promoting growth.

Laid before Parliament on 22 September, the report captures our work in 2020-21. We set out how we have helped the UK in its aim to become the most innovative and creative country in the world. Our work is built on the firm foundations of a strategy that is focused on delivering excellent IP services to its customers and creating a world-leading IP environment.

Despite the challenges we all faced in 2020-2021, just to keep things running smoothly, we made sure we delivered our core services to help the UK be the best place to start and grow a business. We delivered work on managing the impact of new and emerging technologies by understanding how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact the IP system. We successfully established and started the challenging work to make sure that the government’s trade negotiations properly reflect our domestic priorities. And, we embarked upon our five-year Transformation Project to make sure that the services we provide support customers in an increasingly digital environment.

We do not work in isolation. We are part of an international IP network which facilitates progress and trade across the world. We’re also collaborating at home and abroad to fight IP crime, making sure that the revenues created by our innovators really do go to those who deserve them. And we rely on a range of partners to deliver an open and accessible IP system for all users.

The UK has an extraordinary heritage of innovation stretching back to the industrial revolution, and an effective IP regime has been at the heart of its development. We know that innovation is the way we will tackle our biggest challenges now and in the future. It holds the key to achieving carbon net zero, levelling up growth and achieving our ambitions as a global trading nation. And we know that the IP system will play a key role in making this a reality.

The UK’s Innovation Strategy, launched in July 2021, is the starting point for the government’s long-term vision of how we will cement our role as global leaders in innovation. This strategy recognises a strong IP system, that protects and allows for a return on investment in ideas and creates the confidence on which this long-term and sustainable success is built.