Trevor Baylis urges support for young inventors

Speaking at the opening of Medway's new Innovation Centre, Baylis, bemoaning the fact that, 'Only a few British inventors did not die in poverty', put forward the idea that the management and protection of intellectual property should be taught in schools, and that a student's forum should meet in the Centre. He cited the example of a five year old child who came up with the idea of having a broom with soft and hard heads, which got patented only because the child's father happened to be a patent agent. He then argued that as the British Empire was 'built on the back of invention' the UK really needed to protect its greatest asset. To further this end, Baylis urged that Government should make intellectual property theft a white collar crime, in order to protect British inventors against unscrupulous companies. Baylis explained that in order to promote better handling of IP, British Standards is developing a new standard, BS 8538, "Provision of services relating to intellectual property rights", which is currently available as a draft for comment, until July 31st 2010. Trevor Baylis Brands has now assisted 6700 inventors, leading to more than a dozen real winners. "It's a bit like panning for gold", Baylis said, and the Innovation Centre, which has only been open for a year, is now 80% occupied with 30 innovation business tenants.