Innovative and creative ideas are at the heart of most successful businesses. Ideas by themselves, however, have little value. They need to be transferred to a medium, developed, turned into innovative products or services and commercialized successfully so as to enable businesses reap the benefits of their innovation and creativity. New ideas have a great impact on employment, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises, as they secure existing jobs and create new ones.
The development of a country depends to a very great extent on the creativity of its people, and encouragement of individual creativity is an essential condition for progress. The economic health of nations and competitiveness of businesses in the world today depends largely on the ability to develop, commercialise and most importantly, to appropriate the economic benefits from innovation. It then becomes important to protect innovation. Governments have used these legal instruments to encourage industrial development and economic growth.
