Labour-market needs for industrial property competencies of non-lawyers

Abstract

Intellectual property includes not only copyright but also industrial property (IP), which consists of inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs and models, and designations of origin. In order to identify the importance of these competencies of non-lawyers, e.g. engineers, managers, in companies, an online survey was conducted in some European countries as part of the Erasmus+ IPEDU project in 2021. This paper presents the results (n= 175) from four countries: Croatia, Portugal, Romania, and Slovenia. The results provide information about the perception of the importance of IP knowledge in industrial companies, the benefits of this knowledge for the companies, the implementation of training for employees, and the hiring practices of external experts. IP knowledge seems to be very important for companies, but they rarely organize IP training for their own employees. They require IP skills from job applicants and expect the education system to provide this knowledge. Important differences were found between countries, especially in the perceived usefulness of IP knowledge, skills, and training. As IP knowledge becomes increasingly important in industry and society, the study offers a new perspective on the importance of including IP in the education system and the need for non-lawyers to be knowledgeable in this area.