Businesses need to consider different ways of handling IP

WE live in wild times. Either companies are clinging white-knuckled to the steering wheel, or they are looking back at yesterday's inventions in a constant state of whiplash. Technology is moving fast, and software engineer and Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen's words are still true: Software is indeed still eating the world. A generation of technology is now seen in one year, and that rate of overtaking will only speed up exponentially over the next decade. Competition could not be fiercer, and risks lurk around every bend.

Naturally, this frenetic pace of innovation affects the way that we build our companies as well. Job loyalty is not high on the millennial agenda, as the statistics keep reminding us. In fact, 41 per cent of millennials plan to make a move after two years working in their current job.

Opportunity is knocking all the time in this digitally-connected world, and the office has taken on many unconventional forms. Benefits once viewed as bonuses are now essential to employee retention - such as career progression opportunities, training and development, and a good work-life balance.