INTRODUCTION


The central remit of the Independent Review of Intellectual Property is to determine how growth and innovation in the UK are affected by its IP laws. A full answer to this question cannot be given unless there is a clear picture of the historic and current levels of growth and innovation. This section of The PA’s submission demonstrates the scale and pace of the innovation in publishing. Using the latest examples of digital products and services as case studies, it demonstrates how publishers continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in electronic publishing. We have selected some of the best examples of this - but there are many more in the marketplace; and even more in the pipeline.


A passion for innovation lies at the heart of the British publishing sector: long before other creative businesses were encoding their works for use in the digital environment, publishers in the academic world were developing ways to ensure that their content was available to researchers online. Now, some ten years on from those first digital steps, all parts of the publishing world are finding new and exciting ways to deliver their works to their readers. So whether it is a picture book for toddlers or a database of academic literature for PhD students, the service is tailored to the expectations and demands of the reader. This gives rise to very different reading experiences, but demonstrates the sheer flexibility of thinking and design at work in publishing.


Although from diverse parts of the publishing world, each of these case studies of digital innovation shares a critical common characteristic. As we have outlined above, all of the publishing companies involved are united in their conviction that these innovations could and would not have happened were it not for the underpinning copyright framework.


These case studies demonstrate innovation occurring on two levels: one, around the technology and secondly around the content. Publishers are embracing and driving innovation in both how content is accessed and what that content actually is. This second tier of innovation is less visible, but no less important. Re-purposing content for the digital reader and combining with the multiplicity of digital reading devices requires imagination, foresight, skill and daring to evolve in step with technology.


These case studies are evidence of what is possible today. We will leave you to imagine what will be available in the years to come.


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