Exercising their intellectual property rights is critical if women entrepreneurs want to protect and capitalise on their brands

Enterprise Ireland believes Ireland’s economic success will depend on a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem which utilises all the skills, ambition and talent of a diverse population.

Increasing the opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women in management is a strong focus for the organisation.

Enterprise Ireland’s Women in Business strategy has set ambitious targets, including doubling the number of women-led companies in the export market by 2025, and progress is now clear.

In 2022, 37pc of the High Potential Start-Ups Enterprise Ireland invested in were women-led, up from just 7pc in 2011.

Globally, there is a huge gender gap in terms of intellectual property (IP).

In fact, fewer than one-third of all international patents granted in 2021 were to women, according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

If things continue as they are, it is estimated that it will take 30 years before there is parity between men and women on this front, and this needs to be improved as a priority.

In order to unlock value and to continue to protect their businesses, it’s vital these innovative women entrepreneurs know how to protect their brands, technology and processes by exercising their IP rights.

Enterprise Ireland recently hosted a Women in Business IP forum to coincide with World Intellectual Property Day on April 26.

More than 90 representatives from start-ups, SMEs, IP practice and the university research sector attended Enterprise Ireland’s event and heard from a range of experts, including Raymond Hegarty, known as one of the world’s leading IP coaches and Maureen Daly, head of the technology and intellectual property team at Beauchamps Solicitors in Dublin.

​The event also included a discussion with Marion Cantillon, founder of Pitseal, Mary White, trademark attorney at Stobbs Ireland, Rena Maycock, founder of Cilter, Heidi Davis, founder of Identifyher and Marlene Connolly, chief legal officer at Nuritas.

One message was clear throughout the forum – that a strong IP strategy is a vital value-add for any business, and evidence shows that businesses with a broad IP strategy from early on are around 30pc more likely to achieve future high growth.

And while people often assume patents are hugely expensive, that is not necessarily the case.

Among the many benefits of having a detailed IP strategy in place is that it will protect your company if you’re negotiating with larger customers and will lend you credibility in any discussions with venture capitalists. Moreover, it can help generate significant additional revenue through licensing and other commercial applications.

Patents are a timely topic as the EU Unitary Patent System comes into force on June 1 in 17 EU member states, not including Ireland for the moment.

The Irish Government is preparing to hold a referendum to bring it into force in and this will ultimately give Irish inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers and businesses a new level of protection, significant cash savings and the ability to expand their exports to the EU confident in their IP protection.​

Anna-Marie Turley is department manager, Entrepreneurship & HPSU Operations, Enterprise Ireland

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