Martin Brassell discusses Jamaica pilot IP-based finance project at IDB and Compete Caribbean event

Inngot’s CEO, Martin Brassell, will be speaking about lessons learned from a pilot project exploring the provision of IP-based finance to Jamaican MSMEs at an event in Kingston, Jamaica, tomorrow (19/10/23).

The pilot project Martin will be discussing involved helping selected IP-rich Jamaican MSMEs identify and value their IP and intangibles, to support their applications for loan funding from Jamaican banks through the use of Inngot’s online IP identification and valuation tools. Martin Brassell and other Inngot experts also worked alongside the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office to take companies and lenders through the process, to build their confidence in the fundability of this vital asset class. Inngot won the tender for the work in November 2022.

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, says: “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.”

The event, the 2023 Sub-Regional Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation, has been organised by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Compete Caribbean. It starts today (18/10/23). It brings together Caribbean policy-makers and private sector stakeholders in a strategic discussion on how to foster and strengthen eco-systems that support dynamic entrepreneurship and innovation in the Caribbean region.

Martin Brassell will be taking part in a session entitled ‘Reflections on supporting and enabling business and innovation’, which will be starting at around 11:45 Kingston time (17:45 BST).

The Jamaica IP-based finance project is part of a wider project entitled ‘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.