Home topics small-business-resources growing Growing Growing Recession is no time to stop innovating Karen Sinclair April 20, 2009 As the effects of the downturn continue to materialise across all sectors of the economy, it’s clear that innovation will not be immune to the fallout of the global financial crisis . Here’s why the recession shouldn’t be used as an excuse to stop innovating. With business and consumer confidence reaching new lows and financial pressure increasing, organisations both large and small will be tempted to put the brakes on investment in innovation. However, the continued commitment to innovation will in fact help businesses survive the recession and thrive when the economy recovers, which it inevitably will. According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), whilst international patent filings grew under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) by 2.4 percent in 2008, this rate of growth was significantly less than the average 9.3 percent growth rate seen in the previous three years. Anecdotally, IP Australia has also recently experienced a downturn in the number of Australian patent applications being filed and expects a 15 percent drop in the number of trade mark filings this year. In a downturn, especially when employers are still encouraged to retain jobs, investment in intellectual property (IP) becomes discretionary. In an environment in which IP will either not be protected or will not be developed in the first place, the innovation pipeline will empty. This could stall the growth of innovation in Australia not only now, but for