EDITOR’S LETTER

The power of small

“Tech startups are now some of the world’s largest, most powerful corporations.”

If you hear an aspiring politician extolling his or her manifesto on the economy, you can be sure the words “small businesses” will be in there somewhere. There are good reasons for this.

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are vital to economies, representing 99.3% of the business population in the UK in 2020. From 2000 to 2020 the SME population has grown by an impressive 72%.

According to statistics published in October 2020 by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, IP-rich businesses involved in “professional, scientific and technical activities” accounted for a good chunk of that: 15% of the 2020 total.

The IP side of the SME community is well-researched and being targeted for more support by institutions such as the EU Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office, among others.

It’s a similar picture elsewhere, not least in the US, where tech startups are now some of the world’s largest, most powerful corporations—the scene is now worth more than the GDP of some nations.

But like the UK fishing industry, SMEs are a hallowed community, representing entrepreneurialism, hard work, and hope. They carry a certain political cache. This pushes the community’s interests up the political agenda and makes them a group worth listening to for political parties.

In “Who speaks for the SMEs?”, we look into how SMEs are lobbying the US government over IP. It’s a hot topic, with Big Corp often promoting its interests alongside those of small companies on issues such as non-practising entities, patent trolls and standard-essential patents.

As we discover, it’s not always clear who is speaking for whom.

I hope you enjoy the issue.

Tom Phillips is the editor of WIPR

Image: shutterstock.com / View Apart