Welsh Innovation Week

Jane Lambert

Although London hosts one of the world's great tech clusters it has no monopoly of innovation and enterprise.  The University of |Bangor with a growing reputation for the quality of its research opened the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") in 2018.  M-SParc attracted some remarkable businesses which have developed products and services which have achieved wide recognition (see Emily Roberts M-SParc sweeps up at National Awards 23 June 2023).

M-SParc is coming to London between 9 and 14 Sept 2023 (see Welsh Innovation 'OnTour),  It will hold events in the House of Lords, the Welsh government's office in London and the Foue Agency's premises in conjunction with Global Welsh on digital innovation, inward investment, business support, renewable energy and many other topics.  In addition, just as it develops the mathematical and scientific skills of school and college students in Northwest Wakes it will offer a coding workshop for London kids at the London Wesch Centre and a programme on energy for the pupils of the London Welsh School.

I have set out full details of the programme in M-SParc is coming to London for my corresponding blog NIPC Wales.   All the events are free and most can be accessed by completing the simple form on Welsh Innovation 'OnTour.   The only exceptions seem to be the exhibition and conference in the House of Lords which is now fully subscribed and the Global Welsh event which requires a separate registration form.  I have registered for the "Digital Wales" event on Tuesday 12 Aug 2023 and I will assist in any way I can.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article maycall me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact page,

Branding - Catching Them Young

Court Room at the Bangkok KidZania

Author ProjectManhattan
Licence Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

Source Wikipedia KidZania 

On Friday, the son of my former ward celebrated his 8th birthday. For a birthday treat his parents and I took him to the London KidZania which describes itself as "An Indoor City Run by Kids." Located in the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush it consists of 75,000 square feet of replica child size shops and offices on two floors where children aged between 4 and 14 can try their hands at all sorts of occupations.

Children and their accompanying adults pass through immigration where they are issued with wristbands. Activities are paid for with kidZos which is KidZania's private currency though food and drink have to be purchased in sterling.  Activities for adults are limited to queueing with children, watching their role play, consuming refreshments and riding a bus.

Like a lot of children's attractions, KidZania is a transatlantic concept, but from Mexico rather than the United  States.  The first KidZania opened as  La Ciudad de los Niños (Kids' City) in Mexico City in 1999.  La Ciudad was rebranded as Kidzania in 2006 when a second children's city was opened in Monterey. The Mexican company KidZania S.A.P.I. de C.V. has registered the word KIDZANIA as an EU trade mark for a wide range of goods and services in classes 6, 16, 20, 21, 25, 41, 42 and 43 with effect from 3 Jan 2003. It also holds many other trade marks and trade mark applications relating to KidZania around the world.

The company has franchised KidZania theme parks in 20 countries, mainly in Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico) and Asia (India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates).  So far, there are none in the United States and only three in Europe (Lisbon, London and Moscow) bit that is about to change with planned openings in Chicago, Dallas, New York and Paris.

Activities offered at the London KidZania are branded by Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Aljazeera Media Network, the Bank of England, British Airways, Cadbury, Costa, Dorsett International, Eat Natural, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Global, H & M, Hamptons, Innocent, K-Market, Metro, Middlesex County Cricket Club, Mission Deli, Nintendo, People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, Roland, Snazaroo, The Original Tour and other organizations.  Alder Hey hospital, for example, allows children to role play as baby care nurses, paramedics and even surgeons.  Cadbury instructs them in chocolate making. 

About the only role plays for which no provision was made in London was the law which I would have found strange as a child for I knew that I wanted to be a barrister from a very early age. However, Wikipedia reports that there is a court at the Bangkok KidZania and there are others in other cities. 

The investment of some of those brand owners is impressive.  British Airways, for example, has contributed part of an aircraft fuselage and flight simulation equipment and many members of the KidZania staff wear British Airways uniforms.  Clearly, those brand holders see marketing or other opportunities in KidZania.

Our 8 year old tried his hand at print and TV journalism with Metro and Aljazeera, chocolate making with Cadbury and flight training with British Airways among other activities.  There was quite a lot of queueing for one or other of his parents during which time I relaxed in Costa's coffee shops. I also watched him perform in Aljazeera's TV studio and I have a new keyring with a photo of the little boy in an airline pilot's uniform.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or the legal protection of branding generally by trade mark registration, the law of passing off, geographical indications or otherwise should call me on 020  7404 5252 during usual office hours or send me a message through my contact page.  I should also like to wish all my readers a very happy New Year.

The State of Small Business in London

Jane Lambert

In Mapping Enterprise 14 Jan 2018 NIPC News I reported on the research into small and medium enterprises ("SME") across the UK that Nesta and Sage  have carried out and published in The State of Small Business: Putting UK entrepreneurs on the map their reports and on The State of Small Business website.

With 1,010,075 SME, London is the region with the largest number of small businesses. There are 37.6 startups for every 1,000 of the population which is more than 3 times the national average. However, London also has the biggest proportion of business failures (18.0 per 1,000 compared to 6.8 for the national average).  Detailed information for each local authority appears on the State of Small Business website.

Glancing at selected local authorities the City of London has 17,130 SME employing 156,145 persons of whom 41,521 are in financial services, 40,492 in professional, scientific and technical services, 18,989 in business administration and support and 16,925 in information and communication technologies. Financial services are by far the most productive sector with the greatest productivity. The City has 5 accelerators, 2 incubators and 126 flexible work spaces.  Westminster has 45,850 SME employing 325,857 persons in a wide range of business services.It  15 accelerators, 5 incubators and 257 flexible work spaces. By contrast, Lewisham has only 9,370 SME employing 30,803 and has no accelerators, incubators or flexible works spaces.

Anyone wishing to discuss article or SME generally should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Mums Enterprise Roadshow - London

The Business Design Centre

Author Matt Brown
Licence Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
Source Wikipedia

Jane Lambert

In my Inventors' Club blog today I mentioned the Mums Enterprise Roadshow which is holding a series of "child-friendly work and business exhibitions helping mums on a mission whether that be retraining, finding flexible work, starting up or growing a business."

The first of those events is taking place at the Business Design Centre in Islington today. According to the event webpage, there are some interesting talks and exhibition.  If you happen to be in London today and have the time it would seem to be an event that is well worth attending.  The Centre is very close to Angel and Highbury and Islington tube stations and is on several bus routes. Parking is not quite so easy if you come by car, but the website says there is space for 250 vehicles at the nearby Hilton.

If any of my readers who attend the event would care to report on what they saw and did, I should be very glad to publish what they have to day.

Should you want to discuss this article or innovation in general, call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form

London leads Start-up and Scale-up Tables for Digital Enterprise

Author Dbachman
Creative Commons Licence

Jane Lambert

The European Digital City Index (EDCi) was produced by Nesta as part of the European Digital Forum, EDCi provides information about the strengths and weaknesses of local economies in relation to the formation and growth of digital businesses.

The index applies a number of different criteria in drawing up its index which are set out in the Methodology section of its website.  Applying those criteria, Nesta produced the following table of leading European ciies for start-ups:

1. London
2. Stockholm
3. Amsterdam 
4. Helsinki
5. Paris
6. Berlin
7. Copenhagen
8. Dublin
9. Barcelona
10. Vienna.

For scale-ups, the table was:

1. London
2. Stockholm
3. Paris
4. Helsinki
5. Amsterdam
6. Copenhagen
7. Berlin
8. Munich
9. Dublin
10. Vienna

Why London? ESCi explains: 

"The city’s substantial financial sector is undoubtedly a major benefit: not only is London’s venture capital industry the most developed in Europe, but the presence of many financial services firms helps promote a growing number of fintech and crowdfunding startups, like Seedrs, Funding Circle, Transferwise, Wonga and DueDil. London is also the accelerator and coworking capital of Europe, as well as boasting a number of world-class universities. Its vibrant startup scene is supported by a strong creative cluster around ‘Silicon Roundabout’ and, despite Brexit fears, the city still attracts significant talent from all over the world."

Successful start-ups include Deliveroo, Made.com, AppNexus and Borro.  Shazam, Transferwise, Wonga, FarFetch, Zoopla and Lastminute.com are examples of successful scale-ups.

If anyone wants to discuss the legal aspects of starting a digital or any other business, call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

London Chamber of Commerce and Industry

City of London from the Thames

Photo Wikipedia

Jane Lambert

The other day I received a copy of an email from our director of policy welcoming our "organization" to membership of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  According to the Chamber's website it is the capital's largest independent networking and business support organisation representing the interests of thousands of companies, connecting over 500,000 business people  every year and offering a wide range of practical and professional services.

I have spent much of the morning exploring the website, particularly

• the Events and Networking page and the Events Calendar, 
• the Policy and Public Affairs page and in particular the Chamber's press releases, and
• the Business Advice Services page.

I intend to make the most of our membership and participate in as many of those events as possible. It is a great opportunity to explain to business leaders what members of our profession can do for them (see IP Services from Barristers 6 April 2013 4-5 IP blog) and the different ways they can access our services from our workshops and pro bono clinics to our high level representation and consultancy.

Coincidentally, I downloaded and read yesterday Eddie Copeland and Cameron Scott's report Silicon Cities which is published by Policy Exchange. This report discusses how to support the development of tech clusters outside London and the South East of England. As I was born in Manchester and still live in the town where Last of the Summer Wine was shot (we actually have a real vineyard just outside by the way) that is a topic that is very dear to my heart. As I have argued elsewhere it is in the national interest to create a counterweight to London and this report suggests ways in which that can be done. But creating a counterweight does not mean creating a brake. On the contrary it means creating a partner for the capital.

I was pleased to read the Chamber's press release Time to give cities the powers to grow of the 9 July 2014:

"Having long campaigned for greater financial freedom for London, today's report represents a welcome indication that Parliament understands the benefits that fiscal devolution will bring to the capital, and England's other cities and regions."

I made exactly the same point in a question to Nick Clegg at the Leeds International Economic Conference a few days earlier (see "Power. Performance. Potential. Leeds Economic Conference" 5 July 2014 IP North West).  The idea of a North South divide in a country the size of Britain has always been absurd to me. It is good to see that we are all beginning to sing from the same hymn sheet at last.

What is Fintech? Will it be an Engine for Growth or a Seven Day Wonder?

Jane Lambert

Fintech is short for financial technology, that is to say payment systems, services, software and data analytics. According to Fintech The UK’s unique  environment for growth the industry is worth £20 billion with payments technology accounting for about half those sales. The same report states that the UK and Irish Republic are the fastest growing region for fintech and that £265 million was invested in the industry in 2013.

As a result of this investment boom there has been growing interest in fintech from government and investors. In a speech to Innovate Finance at Level 39 on 6 Aug 2014 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced several new measures to encourage investment in fintech.  On 2 July 2014 Santander announced that it had set up a $100 million investment fund in London. There are now all sorts of fintech enterprises which are monitored by such companies as FinTechCity which publishes the annual Fintech 50.

Although London is an important market for financial technology it is important to note that there were only 3 British firms in 2013 FinTech 100 Rankings Released By IDC Financial Insights, American Banker, and Bank Technology News compared to 10 from India and many more from the USA. On page 11 of The Boom in Global Fintech Investment A new growth opportunity for London Accenture London identified the following challenges for London's fintech cluster:

• London's fintech industry is relatively immature;
• there are many first more time entrepreneurs than elsewhere in the world
• it is harder for them to raise funding than their US counterparts.

In How far (if at all) is it possible to protect Innovation in Financial Technology? 12 Aug 2014 IP Yorkshire I spotted yet another difficulty, namely that it is much harder to obtain patent protection for fintech inventions than it is in China, Japan, Korea and the USA.

Interest in fintech has mushroomed and could subside just as quickly but until it does I shall be keeping an eye on the legal issues and particularly IP relating to this technology.  The name fintech is new but I have followed the topic ever since the early 80s when I was legal advisor to VISA for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. I wrote one of the first articles on the subject in EFTS: the Emerging Legal Issues LSGaz 1984 and I contributed a section on electronic banking to Butterworths Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents in 1985. If there is sufficient interest in the legal issues relating to fintech I shall try to hold a workshop or seminar on the topic in chambers. In the meantime here is a reading list which I shall no doubt extend from time to time. If anybody wants to discuss this article or the law relating to fintech in general he or she can call me during office hours on 020 7404 5252 or message me through my contact form. You can also tweet me, write on my wall or send me a message through G+, Linkedin or Xing.

Further Reading

General Introductions

Accenture  The Boom in Global Fintech Investment A new growth opportunity for London 2014

FinTechCity  The FinTech 50 (downloadable from Welcome to The FinTech 50)

IPC Financial Insights and others 2013 FinTech 100 Rankings 7 Nov 2013

UK Trade and Investment Fintech  The UK’s unique environment for growth

Press Releases

HM Treasury "Plan to make Britain global centre of financial innovation set out by government" 7 Aug 2014

Santander  "Santander to launch a $100M fund for fintech companies out of London" 2 July 2014

UKTI "UK leads the way for Financial Technology (fintech) services says new research" 7 Aug 2014

Speeches

George Osborne "Chancellor on developing FinTech"  6 Aug 2014

Intellectual Property

Articles

Jane Lambert "How far (if at all) is it possible to protect Innovation in Financial Technology?" 12 Aug 2014
Kapronasia "Overview of Intellectual Property (IP) Protection for Fintech Firms in China" 20 Jan 2011

Presentation

Wilmer Hale "What Should Financial Institutions and FinTech Companies Be Doing?"  6 March 2013

London is Number 1 in the UK for Branding and Design

Piccadilly Circus at Night

Source Wikipedia

Jane Lambert

The Intellectual Property Office's Facts and Figures 2012-2013 were published last month and they make interesting reading. Businesses in London applies for 12,669 UK trade marks (up from 10,440 the previous year) and received 10,583 registrations (8,680 the previous year). That is more than any other region of the United Kingdom. The South East came second with 6,197 applications and 5,258 registrations and the East of England third in the number of applications (3,227) and the South West in the number of registrations (2,951).

London was also top in the number of registered design applications (1,153 compared to the South East's 1.066) but second to the South East in the number of registrations (720 in 2013 compared to the South East's 883).

London came second to the South East in the number of UK patent applications (2,588 in 2013 compared to 2.522 the previous year thereby bucking the national trend) and grants (346 in 2013). The comparable figures for South East England were 2,822 applications and 346 grants.  

We can assist London artists, designers, inventors, entrepreneurs and investors with our IP clinics at Middlesex University and our talks and publications all of which are free of charge. For our chargeable services see "IP Services from Barristers" 6 Apr 2013 4-5 IP.  If anyone wants to discuss his article or any patent, trade mark, design or other intellectual property matter he or she should call us on 020 7404 5252 or get in touch through my contact form. You can also tweet me, write on my wall or send me a message through G+, Linkedin or Xing.

Patent Box Seminar 12 July, 12:00 - 14:30

Liverpool Embassy

Jane Lambert

Our Introduction to IP Seminar for the 26 June 2013 is now fully booked.  If you want to go onto our waiting list call George on 020 6670 1550 and he will let you know if a place becomes vacant.

However, we still have room for our seminar on the patent box and R & D credits which will take place at Liverpool in London, Royal Mint Court on 12 July between 12:00 and 14:30. I will present a short introduction to patent law and I shall be followed by Howard Veares of  BDO and Michael Sandys of Broudie Jackson Canter.

This will be a good networking opportunity.  Refreshments will be served - I am not sure that we can lay our hands on any scouse - but they will be good.   In addition to the speakers, Joseph Howard, one of my colleagues from Atlas Tax Chambers and our joint senior clerk, John Lister, will also be there.

Tickets are free but you must book and they are going fast.  If you want to attend please register through http://london-patent-box.eventbrite.co.uk/  We look forward to meeting you.