Practical Guide for SMEs to Access Finance Using Intellectual Property Rights

Over the last decade, intellectual property (hereinafter “IP”) assets have increasingly contributed to the market value of companies, including small and medium enterprises (hereinafter “SMEs”). This has primarily been driven by the emergence of a new economy, known as the knowledge (or data) economy, in which the core capital of companies takes the form of intangible assets such as patents, processes, know-how, customer reach, data or workforce talent rather than physical assets.

This report examines different ways to use IP as access to funding. The use of IP as collateral for debt financing or its use as an insurance policy, as well as the different legal and fiscal tools available for SMEs to encourage innovation are briefly presented below. This report also provides a series of recommendations on how SMEs can facilitate the use of their IP assets to access proper funding.

In addition, the general overview provides not only a summary of the guide but also a toolkit with practical and easy-to-use information for Belgian SMEs, to help them better manage their IP strategy.