CMS publishes results of annual employee inventor rewards survey

The use of financial and other rewards can be a useful way to incentivise employees to be creative and innovative. Whilst in some countries financial rewards are mandatory, businesses lack insights into typical discretionary inventor rewards.

For the first time, our international patents team has undertaken an online survey of companies’ inventor reward policies across Europe.

In particular our survey reviewed:

— the differences between employees in different countries
— the ranges of financial reward figures
— the stages at which rewards are paid to inventors.

We also asked about the existence of written employee IP policies, and whether there had been disputes with employees about inventor rewards.

Most survey respondents were large companies with more than 1,000 employees. Our survey analysis demonstrates that many offer significant financial rewards upon both the filing of patent applications and the grant of patents, with some offering rewards at other stages. With the predominant exception of Germany, where special rules apply, most of these employers offer similar reward schemes in all of their R&D locations, although some take account of local salary differentials. The utility of non-monetary rewards and recognition (such as certificates, awards and the like) should also not be ignored, but surprisingly few respondents mentioned them.

Our report this year includes spotlights on inventor compensation laws in France, Germany and the Netherlands, and comment from a business psychology expert on how to motivate creative behaviours. If you would like to participate in future surveys and receive our analysis report please contact Jeremy Morton.