Intellectual property rights or IPR, be it in the form of copyright, trademarks, or patent filings,
is one of the primary measures of the output of the research undertaken in European
Commission-supported projects. The Commission considers the protection of IPR and its
leveraging into exploitation activities to be a major benefit to European industry, especially
SMEs, while at the same time elevating Europe’s standing in terms of its technological and
scientific capabilities from a global standpoint. The figure below outlines the distribution of
the different types of IPR applications that have arisen from EC-supported projects within the
7 th Framework, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe programmes, which has seen over
10,000 IPR applications. However, it is also true that even though Europe produces cutting-
edge technologies and knowledge across all domains, in terms of the protection of
intellectual property, it falls behind in many areas when compared to other innovative powers
such as the US, China, and South Korea.
The distribution of IPR applications (covering a total of over 10,000 applications) arising from projects supported by the European Commission’s 7th, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe framework programmes (Qlik Sense).
The European Commission, as outlined in the project’s Grant Agreement, considers the protection of commercially relevant IP arising from the project’s activities as a key obligation. One way how IPR can be protected is by the filing of commercially valuable and strategic patents, which as seen from the diagram shown is the most common form of IPR applied for. Patents grant the owner or developer exclusive rights to the associated invention, opening opportunities for exploitation within the relevant market, enhancing reputations, and offering avenues for additional revenue via licensing. As Dr. Pat O’Sullivan, ICP’s director of innovation, frequently says to project partners “Patents are a key part of the recipe for success in business and innovation, giving inventors exclusive rights to their unique creations and a competitive edge on a global stage. In the absence of IP protection, one’s brilliant idea(s) can easily be a recipe for someone else’s success !!”
INTACT is committed to filing two patents, which will be supported by project resources and the expertise of partners like ICP. As part of this, an online training seminar introducing the importance of IPR protection, especially patents, was given in May by Dr. O’Sullivan and Dr Kevin Fleming, the INTACT project manager, to the INTACT consortium. This was the start of a process which will see the open and transparent identification, selection, development, and filing of patents to appropriate national or European patent offices. From informal discussions with partners, interest in patents within the context of the project has already been expressed, so we have full confidence that with the wide range of high-quality innovation expected from INTACT, we will achieve our goal.
We invite the readers of this and future newsletters to stay tuned for news on these activities.
