EUIPO’s SME Fund supported 467 Greek SMEs
The very small businesses that applied for the fund also benefited
The data of the grant received by Greek SMEs from the use of the Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund for 2021 of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) following a general assessment are positive.
The Fund, with a grant of 20 million euros, launched in 2021, foresees the provision of intellectual property vouchers (the benefit is offered in the form of reimbursements) to small and medium-sized enterprises based in the 27 Member States of the European Union, aims to help them develop their IP strategies, to encourage them to protect their rights at national level, regional or Community level and receive economic benefit from their protection.
Many of the small and medium-sized enterprises understood that Intellectual Property can help them translate their ideas into products and that the protection titles of their various inventions can be a powerful tool, not only for their survival, but also for competition and development.
In detail, the economic benefit that Greek SMEs had in 2021 is reflected as follows:
•A total of 467 Greek SMEs (medium, small, micro) benefited, with a refund of 50% of the basic fees for the deposit of their title (industrial design and trademark).
•The Fund was well received by the Micro-SMEs which benefited from it.
•The order of preference of the titles was: 1st the Community Mark, 2nd the National Mark, 3rd the Community Plan and 4th the National Plan.
•Medium-sized enterprises (10) preferred the Community Trade Mark (13 applications) mainly and secondarily the Community Plan (4 applications).
•Small businesses (91) also preferred the Community trade mark (125 applications), the National Label (32 applications) and less the Community Plan (12 applications) and the National Plan (5 applications).
•Micro-enterprises (366) preferred primarily the Community Trade Mark (372 applications) and the National Label (177 applications) and secondarily the Community Plan (52 applications) and the National Plan (38 applications).
For the Industrial Property Organisation, which during 2021 managed only the Industrial Plans (under the Programme), 43 national and 68 Community applications have been submitted that have been included in the Fund.
For this year (2022), the Fund has improved the conditions for participation, the most important being the increase in the rate of reimbursement of basic fees from 50% to 75%. The financial support that during 2021, the first year of operation of the Fund, covered only the applications of Designs and Trademarks, will now include patent fees with a 50% refund, which is expected to motivate SMEs to make greater use of the Fund’s provision.
This initiative is carried out in cooperation with the EU’s national and regional intellectual property offices, at national, regional and Community level through the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). In Greece, it is implemented by the Industrial Property Organization and the General Secretariat for Commerce of the Ministry of Development and Investments.
Finally, it should be noted that from today, January 10, 2022 until December 16, 2022, a new call for funding has been released.
