About Ideas Matter

Ideas Matter is a consortium of cross-sector enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses and trade associations that aims to expand awareness and promote the benefits of intellectual property (IP). We firmly believe that ideas are important to the economy, important to society, important to companies both large and small. In other words, Ideas Matter.

Despite its importance, intellectual property—which includes patents, design rights, trademarks, domain names and copyrights—remains a complex and often misunderstood topic. We want to tell the personal stories of individuals and businesses that are thriving due to IP and give attention to the enormous value that IP and innovation brings to companies, economies and society.

"Our single greatest asset is the innovation and the ingenuity and creativity of the people" - President Barack Obama

Long a keystone of economic growth and competitiveness, intellectual property will be even more important for global job creation, economic growth and competitiveness in the 21st century. We are living in a knowledge economy fuelled by innovation, and IP holds tremendous potential to help solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

The world’s largest and most entrepreneurial economies have been built on strong IP, creating cultures of open innovation, knowledge sharing and co-creation. In the words of President Barack Obama: "Our single greatest asset is the innovation and the ingenuity and creativity of the people… It is essential to our prosperity and it will only become more so in this century. But it is only a competitive advantage if our companies know that someone else just can’t steal that idea and duplicate it with cheaper inputs and labor."

Ideas Matter was founded by Philips, Microsoft and DSM. If you’d like to know more about Ideas Matter, or want to become a member of the consortium, then please get in touch: ideasmatter@we-worldwide.com