European IPR Helpdesk: Successful kick-off of 2014 activities
Luxembourg, 30 January 2014 – The launch of the new EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, as well as of the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs, COSME, is the basis for this year’s activities of the European IPR Helpdesk. Given the increasingly market-driven approach of both programmes even more emphasis will be placed on turning research outcomes and technological developments into value-creating products and/or services, which in turn will reinforce the need for professional IP management. Moreover, with SMEs being perceived as major drivers of innovation in Europe, an even greater push towards the participation of innovative SMEs in these programmes will be seen. Against this backdrop the European IPR Helpdesk will take an even stronger business and innovation-oriented approach this year, concentrating on offering a service portfolio that increasingly addresses IP management in relation to central topics such as exploitation, commercialisation and business planning. Furthermore, the team will reinforce its efforts to reach out to SMEs in particular by dedicating more resources to targeted, content-driven outreach and communications activities. Apart from this, the well-established core services of the European IPR Helpdesk will remain, namely: the helpline, training, as well as content-generating services that provide informative material, guiding documents and regular news formats. In view of the start of Horizon 2020 and COSME an increased demand for IP advice and support is expected, particularly given the increased exploitation and innovation focus of the new programmes. Therefore, the team managing the EU IPR Helpdesk for the last three years is glad to have been awarded the service contract for another year, thus ensuring a very strong continuity of service provision for the users in this critical starting phase. With 4,600 registered users, almost 2,000 successfully answered Helpline queries, more than 240 training and awareness raising events, the set-up of the European IPR Helpdesk Ambassador Scheme in collaboration with the Enterprise Europe Network counting 50 ambassadors all over Europe to date, and an ever growing library of newsletters, fact sheets, guides and case studies the team will continue to build on the achievements of successful past three years.
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, United Kingdom