New SME Fund
31 January 2022
Information session: How EU SMEs can benefit from the €47 million fund to protect intellectual property in their COVID-19 recovery and green and digital transitions?
On 10 January 2022, the Commission and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) launched the new EU SME Fund, which offers vouchers for EU-based SMEs to help them protect their intellectual property (IP) rights. This is the second EU SME Fund aiming at supporting SMEs in the COVID-19 recovery and green and digital transitions for the next three years (2022-2024).
The EU SME Fund, with a budget of €47 million, will offer the following support:
- Reimburse 90% of the fees charged by Member States for IP Scan services, which provide a broad assessment of the intellectual property needs of the applying SME, taking into account the innovative potential of its intangible assets;
Reimburse 75% of the fees charged by intellectual property offices (including national intellectual property offices, the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the Benelux Intellectual Property Office) for trademark and design registration; - Reimburse 50% of the fees charged by the World Intellectual Property Organisation for obtaining international trade mark and design protection;
- Reimburse 50% of the fees charged by national patent offices for the registration of patents in 2022;
- From 2023, further services could be covered e.g. partial reimbursement of the costs of the patent prior art search, of the patent filing application; private IP advice charged by IP attorneys (for patent registration, licensing agreements, IP valuation, alternative dispute resolution costs, etc.).
SMEs need a flexible intellectual property toolbox and quick financing to protect their innovations. Hence, for the first time the new EU SME Fund is now also covering patents. The Commission’s financial contribution, which amounts to € 2 million, will be dedicated fully to the patent related services. For instance, an SME could apply for the reimbursement of the registration fee to patent its invention in a Member State.
EUIPO will manage the SME Fund through calls for proposals. The first call is available on the following website https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/online-services/sme-fund
In order to ensure fair and equal treatment of potential beneficiaries as well as safeguarding an efficient management of the action, the application for grants will be open throughout the period 2022-2024. The applications will be examined and evaluated based on a “first comes first served” criterion. SMEs with no experience in the area of intellectual property are encouraged to apply first for an IP Scan service and only subsequently to the other services.
At the EU Industry Days (8-11 February 2022) a special session will be dedicated to the SME Fund allowing SMEs to ask questions of the experts managing the Fund and receiving a practical guide on how to apply for the different services. The special session is scheduled for 11 February 2022, 12:45-13:30. It can be followed remotely by subscribing to the EU Industry Days. You can access the session directly clicking the button below once you are registered.
Background
The Commission published the Action Plan on Intellectual Property to support the EU’s recovery and resilience in November 2020. Among the priorities of the Action Plan, the Commission committed to promote an effective use and deployment of intellectual property tools, in particular by SMEs. Concretely, the Commission offered financial support for SMEs impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, helping them to manage their IP portfolios as well as helping them move towards green and digital technologies.
In 2021, the Commission together with EUIPO launched a first EU SME Fund offering services to reimburse the costs of IP Scan and national trade mark and design registration costs. A total of €6.8 million of the budget has been used by 12 989 SMEs from all 27 Member States. In total, 28 065 services were rendered in the first year of the initial SME Fund, which shows that the action proved very successful.
For More Information
SME Fund 2022
SME Fund 2022 – Call for proposal
Action Plan on Intellectual Property
Financing programmes for SMEs
EU Industry Days
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