As part of the EUIPO Ideas Powered for Business Network (IPfB), EFIC and a number of other actors gathered for the Annual Network Event at the EUIPO in Alicante on 29th of April, under the theme “IP Driving European Competitiveness”, inspired by the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass, and agree on the following conclusions:
• As highlighted by the Draghi and Letta reports, closing the innovation gap with other economic powers, such as the US and China, is imperative also in order to achieve a more competitive, resilient, and strategically autonomous Europe . This requires a fundamental reform of the innovation lifecycle in Europe – from making it easier for researchers to commercialise their ideas, to mobilise joint public investment in breakthrough technologies, and removing barriers to scale up for innovative companies
• The Competitiveness Compass rightly highlights the need to support EU researchers and enterprises in bringing innovation to the market. This ambition must be reflected in key EU policy initiatives.
• Tackling the underutilisation of Intellectual Property (“IP”) is essential to unlocking innovation, attracting investment, and strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy.
• Studies conducted by the EUIPO (as listed in the Annex) consistently demonstrate the strong positive correlation between IP use and the performance of start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs and other economic actors. IP also plays a vital role in enabling access to venture capital.
• To address the above-mentioned challenges and overcome existing barriers, actions intended to boost IP protection, commercialisation and enforcement must be promoted and consistently integrated into key policy initiatives supporting the implementation of the Competitiveness Compass. These include the Start-up and Scale-up Strategy, the Innovation Act, the Single Market Strategy, and the Competitiveness Fund.