We are co-sponsoring this R&D event in collaboration with Deloitte. If you would like to take part, please contact us.

R&D tax incentive- Are you making the most of it?

Breakfast seminar presented by Deloitte and HiLighter

The federal government is encouraging the development and advancement of Australian technologies through R&D tax incentives.  The current R&D tax concession is broad-based and not industry specific, and can give companies income tax refunds based on their qualifying expenditure and company size.

Legislation is before the Senate to replace the Tax Concession with a simplified R&D Tax Offset (also known as the R&D Tax Credit), which will provide up to a 45 per cent refundable credit.

How can you use the R&D tax incentives to maximise your potential? For instance, how can strategic R&D affect your share price, Intellectual Property asset value and Brand Equity?

The breakfast seminar is presented in two parts:

Part 1

Ron van Beek, Deloitte Account Director R&D will talk about the current and future R&D tax incentives.

Part 2

Dr Maud Eijkenboom, Director of HiLighter, will focus on how your R&D can earn key benefits for your organisation (such as IP asset value, brand reputation, price point, competitor pressure & investor-readiness).

Date:    Friday 18 February
Time:   7.15am – 8.30am

HiLighter has moved to the heart of Fremantle.

We love our new space with plenty of rustic charm surrounded by the creativity and coffee shops of Freo.

More infos will become available on our Facebook page. Hope to see you soon. For any enquires, please contact us.

What happens when the founder is looking to exit the business? How do you transfer the trust that your customers have in the founder to the business per se?

The latest news on the voluntary administration of the Clive Peeters Group (owning Rick Hart stores) gives an insight to the effect that “putting your name on it” can have on the founder himself.

In Western Australia, Rick Hart’s name is synonymous with his Rick Hart electrical appliance chain stores. Over the years advertising for the stores has communicated to customers that Rick Hart was personally guaranteeing quality and value for money with his name, voice and image. He was on TV, radio and in magazines declaring “you’ll get the best deal, I put my name on it!”. This became the brand by-line of Rick Hart.

“Putting your name to it” is a very direct translation strategy for evoking and capturing trust and credibility in customers.  But what are the pitfalls of this Brand and Marketing strategy?

The Rick Hart brand strategy and communication were straightforward. The person Rick Hart built a brand reputation on his own personality and entwined his philanthropy and sporting activities with his trusted name in business.

In 2006, the Rick Hart stores were acquired by the Clive Peeters Group, and Mr Hart continued as CEO and Director of the Rick Hart chain until November 2009.

In 2009, Mr Hart announced his immediate retirement as a Director of the Company, and as Chief Executive Officer of the Rick Hart Group in Western Australia. He also resigned as CEO of the Fremantle Football Club.

Hardly noticeable, in the following few months, the person Rick Hart disappeared from Rick Hart store advertising. Only the jingle sound remained a constant on radio and ‘I give you my Hart’ slowly faded out.

In May 2010, $1.3 million in goods are awaiting customer delivery from Rick Hart Stores.  Clive Peeters went into voluntary administration after sales plunged and it racked up $140m in debt. Interesting though that in the ‘About us’ section of the Rick Hart Store website, the text is still addressing customers with “For over 33 years, it has been my aim to ensure Rick Hart stores stock only the best brands…”

The Rick Hart case shows that “putting your (personal) name to it” was intended as a brand differentiation strategy to the other retail chains in Perth. However, the brand had no exit strategy for its founder. The person and the business were interchangeably linked with the customer perception that Rick Hart, the person, was Rick Hart, the service delivery.

Asked about the demise of his name sake, Rick Hart said to Current.com.au: “I feel very sad about it, it is an icon brand. It has been a very successful business even though I haven’t been involved for the last six months. It is very sad to see it get to this point.”

Now Rick Hart, the businessman, has been working on a new business idea and the launch of his new Luxury kitchen store KHQ is only a few weeks away. His new venture is in a different customer segment and he has de-coupled his personal name from the new brand name.

The particular patents covered the breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 and were licensed by Myriad from, amongst others, the University of Utah.

Based on these patents, Myriad invested time and money to commercialise and develop test services. These test services identify mutations in the genes of patients, indicating an increased risk for cancer. Judge Sweet decided that the 7, now invalid, gene patents circumvented a prohibition against patenting human DNA. In practical terms, the 7 patents would reduce the access of patients to tests, validation of these tests and inhibit development of downstream technologies.

The ruling, if maintained, will provide opportunities for other businesses to develop their own tests for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Myriad still has the advantage of extensive know-how in this testing area, and maintained its “method of use” patents on the specific DNA sequences for assessing cancer susceptibility. It is likely that Myriad will file an appeal.

How will gene patenting in general be affected? It is going to take some time before we can estimate the effect of the ruling for future gene patenting processes. The patent law concerning DNA is not yet stabilized regarding what can be patented and what cannot. However, it is likely that several other gene patents, claiming DNA sequences as an invention per se rather than as part of a process, will be invalidated in the US as well.

Gene patents that claim modified or engineered gene sequences or processes for using specific genes are not affected by the US District Court ruling.

If you have a patent portfolio in this field, keep your eyes on this case!

What is a gene patent?

A gene patent claims the rights to a specific gene sequence, the specific chemical composition, methods to obtain or use the gene, or a combination of these. It is controversial to patent naturally-occurring genes, because these genes are discovered, not invented.

Biotechnology companies have used the argument that the moment they isolate and purify the naturally occurring DNA, these sequences are “man-made” and not anymore “naturally-occurring”. The Intellectual Property is therefore attached to the “man-made” sequences. However, the man-made and the naturally-occurring sequences are identical and cannot be distinguished from each other.

The role of Design in business is simply to translate and communicate a business idea to consumers and clients. But why is it so hard? What is the difference between those design efforts that hit and those that miss the mark?

Good design practitioners add much more value than pretty pictures- they build bridges to the market and end users. They establish customised communication strategies for consumers and clients. When incorporated into the business strategy, expert designers are powerful drivers of effective innovation.

Experienced designers have a balanced view of the benefits and risks of innovation. Professional design processes business objectives into an actual product or service so that it simultaneously addresses the goals of the company and the desires of consumers and clients. Research shows that many of the firms that can perform at global level brought design into their cultures at an early stage.

Global brands are often design leaders and trendsetter as can be seen in published lists of top global brands (e.g. Interbrand, Bloomberg Business Week ).

Look, for example, at Apple. The design team who created the iPod, the iMac, and all of the other products that mark Apple’s success, is essentially the same team that created all of the products released during the firm’s poor market share and financial performance in the 90’s. The only difference between then and now is Apple’s CEO, who purposefully makes design the core of the product-development process.

A designer has the skill to evoke perceptions and desires of luxury, individuality, and tribal identity in consumers. Still, consumers who buy these items, often decide on them because the purchase reflects their personal attitudes or who they would like to be.

In the long term, design improves customer satisfaction, but only if it succeeds in communicating the quality and intent of a good idea that was turned into a good product or service. Design is also playing a big role in tackling the next ecological challenges to industries around the world. Consumer wants and needs should be balanced with ecological sustainability. It can be expected that great emphasis will be placed on developing innovative processes that maintain the outstanding user experience while reducing packaging, waste, parts, and carbon footprints.

Excellent designers, like visionary business leaders, create value by pushing boundaries and questioning the status quo. They achieve more with design process e.g. by reducing things to their essence.

Design creates new business opportunities and builds bridges to manifest big ideas into consumer wants, emotions, and aspirations. It’s time that designers and business decision makers sit at the boardroom table and contribute equally to creating sustainable solutions for business and society as a whole.

Photography: Copyright © Sarah Klockars-Clauser Creative Commons::Attribution-ShareAlike