Stronger IP laws will create more high-paying jobs around the country

As President of an Ohio business, I know the tremendous potential our state has to drive America’s economy forward. And I am not the only one.

A new survey by PNC Bank finds that 45 percent of Buckeye State business owners expect sales to grow in the next six months. More than half plan to make capital investments.

Yet only 17 percent expect to add jobs. That’s not nearly enough to put Ohio’s 419,000 unemployed residents back to work.

To create those jobs, Ohio needs more entrepreneurs and innovators to make the Buckeye State home to their businesses. And to attract these business owners, state policymakers must bolster the state’s intellectual property (IP) sector. The innovative, creative firms that populate this sector are already fueling the economy — and hold the greatest potential for the Buckeye State’s growth.

Intellectual property rights protect innovation in much the same way property rights defend tangible items. IP can safeguard everything from a singer’s music to the production of a new drug.

My firm, Orbital Research, Inc., relies on IP to protect the ever-changing processes we use to develop custom-engineered sensor, actuator, and electronic solutions for use in the health, military, automobile, aerospace, and energy sectors.

IP extends beyond simply trademarking a business name or patenting an invention. Strong IP rights encourage entrepreneurs and investors the incentive to pour millions into the development of the next miracle drug — or the next revolutionary piece of technology.

This framework of rights lets businesses know they’ll be rewarded for their hard work — and that others won’t steal the ideas that underpin their products.

Millions of Americans depend on IP for their jobs. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Commerce calculates that intellectual property supports more than 40 million jobs nationwide.

Here in Ohio, businesses relying on innovation and intellectual property accounts for 57 percent of our state’s private-sector jobs. In total, nearly 2.7 million Ohioans work for IP-dependent companies like Orbital Research, earning an average wage of over $48,000 a year. That’s $11,000 more than in other sectors.

Their economic contribution is remarkable. In our state, these companies generate nearly 70 percent more output than other private-sector workers. That’s equivalent to more than $100,000 per worker — and adds up to over $226 billion in statewide economic output.

But IP-intensive industries wouldn’t be able to generate such enormous economic returns without the American regulatory environment’s respect for the time-consuming and expensive discovery process behind groundbreaking inventions.

Ohio currently ranks 11th nationally for IP-related research expenditures. Our state spends $7.4 billion to fund discovery projects. In 2010 alone, the federal government awarded nearly 4,000 patents to Buckeye innovators.

Without IP protections, researchers wouldn’t have the proper incentives to undertake this vital work.

By rewarding original creativity, intellectual property sparks the discoveries that drive some of Ohio’s most successful firms. We must protect the rights that encourage these businesses to create the high-quality local jobs Buckeyes need.

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