New innovation measures planned
A new European directory on start up companies and a pan-European 'patent academia network' are the latest measures to be offered by the European Commission to help foster increased innovation in the European Union. The proposed measures come in relation to the call for proposals made on 7 July (under 'access to private innovation finance and tools for better knowledge exploitation'). The Commission will co-finance the setting up of the European directory, which will be available on the world wide web, as a source of information for the innovation community, providing information on trends and developments in the high-tech sector. The database is expected to be live by the end of the first quarter of 2001. Most information on the companies listed on the directory will be available free of charge, but some sections will be available on a commercial basis. The new 'patent academia network' will seek to spread the lessons learnt from universities from across Europe in patenting and exploitation of innovative research. A pilot project (NEICO) has already shown that transfer of tools and schemes adds value to the experiences of all the partners. It also aims to give academics the entrepreneurial know-how to benchmark and exploit innovative research. Exchange of personnel is envisaged as a part of this measure.