IDB selects Inngot for pilot scheme enabling Jamaican MSMEs to use IP assets as loan security

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has awarded a key contract to UK-based IP identification and valuation specialist Inngot, to deliver the crucial final stages of its pilot IP-based finance scheme.

Inngot will help selected IP-rich Jamaican MSMEs identify and value their IP and intangibles, to support their applications for loan funding from Jamaican banks. As well as providing access to its online platform, Inngot CEO Martin Brassell is currently in Jamaica working directly with companies and lenders, to build confidence in the fundability of this vital asset class.

The pilot scheme is part of a wider project for ‘Strengthening the IP Ecosystem to Increase Innovation, Competitiveness and Growth of MSMEs in Jamaica’. This is a Government of Jamaica (GOJ) initiative led by the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office, funded and supported by the Complete Caribbean Partnership Facility and the Caribbean Development Bank.

In Jamaica, and across the world, economies are shifting from being based on tangible assets to being based on intangible ones. Facilitating the use of IP in business finance aims to enable firms to use their most valuable, intangible assets as loan collateral, rather than be expected to offer tangible ones (like buildings and machinery), which increasingly few businesses actually own.

Martin Brassell, CEO of Inngot, explains: “Jamaica is recognised as a driving force in world culture, especially in music, but it is also rich in other types of IP. Think of copyright in film, literature and software; trade marks in branded consumer goods; technology linked to ecommerce, data and analytics; and protectable know-how in sustainable food production. We are here to help the companies building these assets to unlock the value of their creativity, so they can use it to raise the money they need to grow.”