ProTon Europe: Innovation from Public Research
The General Assembly of ProTon Europe, held in Dublin on 23 November, agreed unanimously to support the initiative of Responsible Partnering presented by the Board. Responsible Partnering is a voluntary framework to achieve more effective collaborative R&D among companies and Public Research Organisations. The framework applies primarily to the transfer and application of jointly-developed scientific and other forms of knowledge and intellectual property. The benefits are far-reaching and long-term. They will derive from the voluntary support of a sufficient number of PROs and companies, which will ensure that the approach provides better results for the individual player and for society as a whole than case-by-case appropriation of the benefits of public research. The initiative follows the recommendations of the special conference held in Brussels on 5-6 February and is being promoted in collaboration with the European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA), the European University Association (EUA) and the European Association for Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) representing together most of the stakeholders from large industry and public research organisations. At its 2003 annual conference, ProTon Europe adopted the Valencia statement endorsing the innovation model of knowledge transfer, recognizing in essence that intellectual property management and licensing are not sufficient. It is necessary for effective knowledge transfer organisations to be actively involved in collaborative research with industry and in the creation of new companies, as these do not occur spontaneously to a sufficient extent in Europe. This approach is very consistent with the Open Innovation model adopted by many innovative technology-based companies. ProTon Europe is convinced that the Responsible Partnering framework will encourage and facilitate a more effective collaboration between science and industry, while being supportive of the research and education missions of European Universities. The voluntary adoption of Responsible Partnering may contribute significantly to making Europe a more competitive knowledge economy by 2010. This recipe has worked for the economies of northern Europe, particularly Finland. There is no reason why more effective interaction could not be extended to the whole of Europe, provided that general principles are followed to preserve and reinforce the core missions of the stakeholders. The General Assembly of ProTon Europe also unanimously supported the recommendation to introduce a Grace Period in European Patent Law as a safety net to prevent the loss of patentability of many university inventions. The complexity and cost of the patent system in Europe is much less appropriate to university based inventions than the US patent system and is acting as a barrier to innovation from public research. It lacks a grace period, a provisional patent system, a continuation-in-part (CIP) system and is several times more expensive. ProTon Europe is convinced that these differences account for a large part for the much lower patented inventions coming out of public research. Harmonisation issues at worldwide level need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. The introduction of a Grace Period would be a significant step in the right direction. The difficulties associated with its introduction in a first to file system need to be addressed in consultation with experts from universities, Research and Technology Organisation and Industry. ProTon Europe will collect and represent the views of its members. The 2004 conference and General Assembly gathered a growing number of members from new accession countries. Many countries are taking steps or are considering to create a national association of knowledge transfer organisations to collect and disseminate good practices at national level, with the collaboration and partnering of ProTon Europe. All partner associations are expected to share common professional standards and ethical values, which are essential for the recognition of the profession. Commenting on the important contribution of ProTon to Europe's competitveness, David White, Director Enterprise Policy at the Enterprise Directorate General of the Commission, highlighted in his address to the conference that "... should ProTon Europe fail in its undertakings, it will be a failure for Europe." The Dublin Conference of ProTon Europe was hosted by University College Dublin and the welcome address made by Professor Catherine Godson, Vice-President for Innovation and Corporate Partnerships, and by Dr Pat Frain, Director of NovaUCD.ProTon Europe is a pan-European network of Knowledge Transfer Offices linked to Universities and Public Research Organisations. It is supported by the European Commission as part of the Gate2Growth Initiative. ,ProTon Europes ultimate objective is to boost the economic and social benefits of publicly funded R&D throughout Europe by further developing the professional skills of those working in this field. This should further contribute to the creation of new products, processes and markets, improve the management of innovation, and thereby stimulate sustainable and high value economic growth, competitiveness and employment.