Brisbane City Council's Innovative Proposals Policy (IPP) will provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with greater opportunities to commercialise their ideas, a leading industry organisation has claimed.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) said the scheme would enable businesses to overcome one of the biggest hurdles when getting new ideas to market – securing contracts.
CCIQ Stephen Tait claimed the IPP would allow local government and businesses to work together more closely.
"Brisbane City Council's new IPP is a significant step in the right direction and will assist businesses looking to enter a commercial relationship with council to provide an innovative service or product," he added.
"Not only does the IPP open the door for business opportunity, it adds rigour and expertise to enable businesses to take advantage of the opportunities to work with council."
Companies should contact a commercial lawyer before entering into any new contracts to ensure they are fully aware of the terms of an agreement. An experienced law firm can take you through every step of the process, including ways to protect your intellectual property (IP).
In fact, IP is one of the key areas the new innovative proposals initiative is expected to strengthen. The plan is to streamline the council's current procurement processes so that it can benefit from cutting-edge business tenders in a more transparent way, while still protecting business's IP.
"Currently there are no set guidelines for dealing with tenders classified within the 'innovative' category, and this proposal will give businesses more clarity as to how their ideas will be considered and what they will be assessed on," said Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.
He said the IPP would help cement the council's reputation as a progressive destination for new ideas and partnerships with the business community.
If you would like to know more about commercial arrangements and public-private joint ventures, please talk to our expert legal team.
