The Corporate and the startup met together at the EIC Corporate Day organized by the Holcim Innovation Center and EIC Business Acceleration Services and are now in collaboration.
At the World Smart Energy Week in Tokyo, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and the EEN are organising the EU-Japan Green Transition Matchmaking Platform 14 to 18 March.
India´s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, recently communicated that India is in a stage where economic growth and technological developments will highly depend on intellectual property.
The EU Prize for Women Innovators celebrates inspiring female leaders. The prize recognises the role of women in bringing about game-changing innovations to the market and in creating innovative companies in Europe and beyond. With the prize, the European Commission (EC) aims to raise awareness of the need for more female innovators, empower European women in research and innovation and give them the visibility they deserve. Just in time for this year's International Women's Day, applications for the contest are now open!
Only 16 % of people on the African continent have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. In comparison, this number rises to 70 % of people in Europe. This discrepancy turned the topic into the top discussion point during the recent EU-Africa summit in Brussels. Representatives of the African Union member states demanded that the EU stop blocking a proposed waiver on COVID-19 vaccine patents to increase their own production capacity.
The WIPO Global Awards Program recognises and supports innovative and creative activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The first Awards will be granted to five winners in July 2022 and recognises SMEs using intellectual property (IP) to make a positive cultural, societal or economic impact. Winners will benefit from a number of privileges, including a customized mentorship programme, international promotion, a sponsorship programme and participation in the awards ceremony. Deadline for submission is 14 March 2022.
The European IP Helpdesk team and the European Patent Office (EPO) have just released a new – and incidentally – the last episode of the “Talk Innovation” podcast series. The final episode draws our attention to the field of renewable energies. Building on innovative research from the German Technical University of Munich (TUM), start-up company Fos4X successfully developed and commercialised fibre optical sensor technology that makes wind turbines safer and less vulnerable to severe weather conditions. Accompanied by a dedicated case study, you can read and hear all about which role IP rights played in the success of Fos4X.
The European IP Helpdesk team has just published the first installment of a monthly publication series that will explore intellectual property rights (IPR) issues in the so-called metaverse. The metaverse, defined as a digital mirror of the real world, has been a hot topic of conversation recently. Specific questions surrounding IPR play a key role in this strictly digital environment. Read up on them in our most recent blog article!
The new issue of our biannual online magazine Bulletin was released last week. Each Bulletin issue features a mix of expert articles, interviews and best practice examples covering different aspects related of the topic in relation to intellectual property (IP) and innovation. In the most recent publication, we are taking a closer look at the European Green Deal from an IP perspective, spotlighting some of the recent developments and discussions related to IP and the green transition process. Our experts delve into the topic of plant IP, alternatives to plastic and sustainable materials, look at technology transfer in relation to green technologies – and much more. Happy reading!
We are very happy to announce that the new edition of “European IP Helpdesk Bulletin" is now out.
According to the CNIPA, “China plans to stop all patent subsidies by 2025 to help shift its intellectual property focus from quantity to quality”. This would hopefully bring down the number of patent application and shorter patent examination times. It would also weed out bad quality patents and boost innovation.
Does your invention help to save resources or make the economy greener? If yes, you can now benefit from the accelerated patent examinations proceedures in Taiwan to obtain patents faster than via the regular route. Your patent examination results will be issued within 6 months. Talk to your patent agent to make sure that you can benefit from this excellent program.
In Feburary 2022, China joined Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs as well as the Marrakesh Treaty which facilitates the distribution of copyrighted works to blind and visually impared people. China’s accession to the Hague System comes to force in May 2022. This will be a notable development in China’s IP system for European SMEs who will then be able to extend their European designs to China via the WIPO.
Winter Olympics in Beijing brought along a wave of malicious trade mark registrations. Various entities tried to register the name of the Olympic mascot Bing Dwen Dwen (the cute panda) and the name of the Chinese free ski superstar Gu Ailing (Eileen Gu) as trade marks. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) blocked all such registration attempts. A lesson leant, if your brand name becomes even little known in China, there will be someone who tries to register it, so register it yourself before your brand name is gone.
China has taken various measure to protect the intellectual property rights revolving around the Olympics, such as the promotion of licensed sales of Olympic souvenirs and protecting the Olympic broadcast rights. According to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) “The Olympics provides a great opportunity to further foster public awareness of intellectual property rights, as it is a major event that has aroused the interest of people around the country”
IP4TEEN Creators is an initiative funded by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and Ideas Powered to support young digital creators in dealing with intellectual property (IP) in their online activities. The project focuses on increasing youngsters’ IP awareness to leverage intangible assets for digital entrepreneurship. Young creators will also learn how to make better use of third parties’ creations while respecting IP rights and how to benefit from IP in social media. IP4TEEN Creators provides IP content and tutorials on four main thematic areas: IP for youtubers; IP for instagrammers as well as trademarks and copyright topics. The project ends in September 2022 and content is currently available in Spanish only.
Together with the European IP Helpdesk, the European Patent Office (EPO) has published two case studies demonstrating how intellectual property supports the commercialisation of technology. The newest additions round up the eight-part series of case studies covering a broad range of different business sectors and thematic fields. While the story of the Portuguese start-up company Perceive3D showcases the successful commercialisation of a promising technology in the medical imaging area, the case of Fos4X draws attention to a new sensor technology making wind turbines more efficient. The Perceive3D case study is accompanied by a new episode of the EPO’s “Talk innovation” podcast moderated by the European IP Helpdesk’s Stephanie Weber. In this episode, hear how broad patent protection and a vibrant innovation eco-system paved the way for market success. Happy reading and listening!
On 1 March, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will announce the results of the first call under the new Women TechEU pilot programme.
The EIC invites all eligible startups to participate in our next ePitching with Investors session dedicated to Telecom, Internet, and Media.
This report presents emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in 2021 that are of high interest to the EIC.
