London: 14 January 2009

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) on the 14 January 2009 held a meeting titled: Public Sector Intangible Assets – unlocking the potential. The UK Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) has published the agenda. The meeting was held in central London at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). The themes of the meeting were:

Theme 1: Unlocking the Potential – Policy Issues Theme 2: Adding value through intangible assets Theme 3: Barriers and Incentives Theme 4: Accounting for IntangiblesTheme 5: Toolkits/ Aids

The UK has potentially two opposing strategies to unlock the potential of public sector:

1. Information through re-use led by the Office of Public Sector information (OPSI). (Legal base Directive 2003/98/EC, UK SI 2005 No. 1515)
2. Intangible assets led by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). (a policy initiative)

The Theme 2 presentations included a presentation titled: The need to consider a broader view of the benefits to society and the economy presented by Michael Fanning, Managing Director of Online Consultants International Limited, which considered the need to ensure the two policies were both focused on the same objective of maximising the wider economy. All the evidence amassed by the ePSIplus Thematic Network shows that the Information Society and Knowledge economy is maximised when the public sector works in partnership with society rather than competing with it.

The presentation commenced with an overview of the recently published European Commission PSI Study 2008 – Assessing PSI Re-use in Europe and then using UK examples from the legal information sector showed how civil society if given the opportunity can maximise the return on public sector information in ways that are very cost effective compared to that of the public sector. The presentation ended recognising the challenges that still exist using a quote made by Lord Justice Toulson.

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