Technology cooperation

Technology cooperation
Benefits, challenges and solutions
EU – Latin America Dialogue on Industrial
Policy
Santiago de Chile, Chile, April 2015
Anne von Zukowski
European Commission
Mutual benefits of cooperation
• Both EU and Latin America profit from
international cooperation
• Broader choice for consumers
• New markets – economies of scale, new ideas
• New business partners – efficiency gains,
improvements to products
• New technologies for firms and consumers
• New business opportunities – subcontracting,
complementary products
Technology cooperation in the
digital age
• Digital age – more complex products and
services, shorter lifecycle
• Globalisation - longer supply chains, distant
markets => need for reputation
• Faster development of countries - build on
existing solutions = trust needed;
• Cooperation – understanding cultural and
systemic differences + bridges
Innovation, reputation and trust
• Innovation and Reputation – high investment
• Trust – respecting partner's contribution
• Innovation – patents and trade secrets
• Reputation – trademarks
• Trust – respecting and protecting Intellectual
Property
Technology sharing - SMEs
• Small and Medium Enterprises abroad:
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Technology and intellectual assets – main asset
Ready to share technology, but…
Signal reputation by patents and trademarks
Need trust - Intellectual Property accepted by
partners and effectively protected
• If IP not understood by all economic actors or not
effectively protected - obstacle
Tools to build bridges
• Latin American Intellectual Property SME
Helpdesk
• support EU and LATAM SMEs to get together
• By providing advice, information and training on
Intellectual Property in LATAM
• Target – EU SMEs doing business with LATAM
• other measure(s) – European and Latin American
Business Services and Innovation Network,
Enterprise Europe Network, clusters
Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk
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www.mercosur-iprhelpdesk.eu
Till June 2015 – MERCOSUR and Chile
From Jul 2015 – Dec 2017 – Latin America
Partners: 3 in EU (lead – University of Alicante),
4 in Latin America
• Services: individual advice, guides and factsheets
on business and IP, training on the spot and
webinars
Case study on potential obstacle
• Case study of a potential obstacle for foreign
SMEs to invest in Latin America
• Potential barriers in trademarks
• prepared by MERCOSUR IPR SME Helpdesk
• one of LA countries has more than 500 000
trademark registrations pending
How to accelerate registration?
• Cooperate with EU (OHIM) and EU MS trademark
offices to accelerate TM registration in LA (based
on existing EU and national TMs)
• Offices not to examine applications against
existing trademarks
Patent backlogs
• Relative long times for patent registration – up to
7-8 years on average in some LA countries
• patent backlogs in of different levels in LA
countries ranging to more than 180 000
Faster patent registration
• Patent Cooperation Treaty
• Faster option – Patent Prosecution Highway
• Fast and EU wide - cooperate with EPO, including
Patent Prosecution Highway
Technology sharing and obstacles
• Technology sharing brings benefits
• to EU and LA companies
• and also to both societies
• To achieve these benefits you need
• better analysis of existing barriers
• and addressing them
Analysis of obstacles
• to better assess barriers and help SMEs overcome
them
• EU will launch a survey contrasting expectations
and perceptions by both partners
• We invite you to participate and spread
Next steps
• invitation to
• further work on cooperation of SME support and
on understanding of Intellectual Property
• further work on faster registration of patents and
trademarks in support of smoother technological
cooperation of EU and Latin American SMEs
• Thank you for your attention!
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Anne von Zukowski
Policy Officer
European Commission
DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Industrial Competitiveness for Growth
+32 229 91 348
anne.von-zukowski@ec.europa.eu