Friday’s launch of the Bazalgette Creative Industries Review commissioned by Ministers Karen Bradley and Gregg Clarke and was presented to a crowded room of the great and good of the Creative Industries. Notable amongst many positive recommendations is a £500m fund to develop regional clusters.

Dids Macdonald OBE CEO of ACID said, “We very much welcome this important review and whilst we were pleased to see a section on intellectual property addressing digital protection and IP valuation there is a gap of initiatives to help lone, micro and SME 2 and 3D product designers.  IP valuation is a relevant subject but it is a little like the cart before the horse. First of all there has to be something to be valued and, in the recent IP Strategy Reviews which ACID has carried out there is very little awareness of the value of IP and, in the case of designs, of registration of designs or trade marks, often from sizeable businesses. The paper was light on any serious recommendations for tougher enforcement on IP infringement.”  For the full report see here.

IP Recommendations, summarised by the Alliance for Intellectual Property:

• Government should increase the support offered to businesses to protect and exploit intangible IP. As part of this, the Intellectual Property Office should digitise its IP Finance Toolkit and work with industry to publicise it further with businesses of all sizes and across the UK, agreeing an annual target for the number of UK firms using it.
• Government and industry should conduct a comprehensive joint work programme on IP valuation to: a) increase awareness of the availability of IP valuation resources, b) map the market and identify barriers to investment and c) take bold action to address any market failures.
• Government and industry should develop a joint strategy to improve data transparency around creative content and thus unlock new revenues and business models. The music industry, tech industry and government should develop a proof of concept at pace. Given the ambitious, novel nature of this work, government should ensure innovation funding is available to support this and develop further stages for other digital content sectors such as film.

Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Facebook and chair of the Creative Industries Council, said:  Sir Peter has identified some important priorities for action: we strongly share his desire to promote innovation, intellectual property and access to finance for growing creative enterprises; to support growth in international trade and creative clusters around the UK; and to secure the pipeline of diverse talent which our industries need in order to thrive.

John Kampfner, CEO of Creative Industries Federation said:  The Federation welcomes Sir Peter Bazalgette’s review and the growing acknowledgement by government that the creative industries are an essential part of the country’s future growth. We are also pleased to see that many of the recommendations the Federation and our membership submitted to the review have been reflected within it.

The press release is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bazalgette-review-sets-recommendations-for-continued-growth-of-uks-creative-industries