Creative companies urged not to miss new profit opportunities

Businesses in the digital creative industries are being urged not to miss out on major profit opportunities ahead of an international conference at the University of Abertay Dundee next week.

Jeffrey Meek, Edinburgh Managing Partner of French Duncan LLP Chartered Accountants, warned ahead of the Digital Spark conference that creative businesses must be aware of untapped business growth opportunities.

One common mistake companies in the digital creative industries make is judging the value of their software or design work purely in terms of how long it took to create - failing to appreciate its full market value, and potentially missing out on new income.

“Companies often fail to consider what their intellectual property is worth to others and instead focus just on what it cost them to produce. The two figures can differ substantially, resulting in companies missing out on major new opportunities,” Jeffrey said ahead of the Digital Spark conference.

“By properly valuing what they’ve already created, companies can actually bring in totally new revenue streams without putting any extra hours into creating new software or content.”

He added: “One opportunity many companies miss out on is considering how their existing work might be licensed to another company, possibly in a different industry or in another part of the world.

“Could your cartoon character or design work be used in another industry, or to help co-promote another product? Could your software drive another company’s business, helping them to increase their profits? Without a full assessment of your options, you may be missing fantastic opportunities to grow your business.”

Jeffrey is an expert in different ways of valuing intellectual property and how to use different data sources for these calculations. He will speak at the Digital Spark conference about valuation, and how this can improve profitability.

Conference delegates will also get his expert insight on areas such as:

- avoiding a loss of income, by making sure any licensing deal is carefully set out. Offering an unlimited licence, intentionally or not, can be very risky

- managing sub-contractors, to be sure that any work carried out remains the sole property of the company paying for the work. Not doing this can cause serious business problems, particularly if the product or service being produced is then sold on to someone else

- any new income generated through proper intellectual property valuations can help support further business expansion

The Digital Spark 2011 conference at Abertay University will feature world-leading experts from companies like Aardman, Google, Sony and Universal Music giving invaluable advice about successfully managing the complex business risks and opportunities associated with IP.

Delegates will also hear from Chris Deering, who is widely acclaimed as the ‘Father of the Sony PlayStation’ and is one of the most influential figures in the international digital entertainment industry of the last 30 years.

Introductory sessions to the basics of intellectual property and protecting your business are also on offer, which will be particularly useful to small creative companies. These sessions were very popular last year.

To register for Digital Spark 2011, please visit digitalspark.abertay.ac.uk/

Provided by University of Abertay Dundee