Brussels, Belgium
10 March 2011

EuropaBio believes the adoption today of the Competitiveness Council conclusions in favour of an enhanced cooperation procedure in the area of the creation of a unitary patent protection system is an important step in the right direction towards truly supporting innovation and value creation in Europe.

Commenting on the development, Tom Saylor, Chair of EuropaBio’s SME Platform said: “Our highly innovative companies, large and small alike, compete on the global scene and are confronted with increasingly high costs of patenting under the current system in Europe. In order for it to remain attractive for innovative companies such as ours to develop and flourish in Europe, these patent costs must come down and Europe must agree on a competent centralized court of patent adjudication. We need to create the right environment in Europe to compete with other high-tech regions in the world so that our companies chose Europe to market the products that help citizens lead longer, healthier and greener lives.”

The European biotech industry pioneers breakthroughs in research and development in key strategic fields to satisfy unmet medical needs and to provide more sustainable agricultural and industrial products and processes for future generations. The work of these sectors must be enabled if Europe is to realise the value of its strong scientific base through the commercialisation of the products of European biotech and to retain the benefits, value and employment in the EU.

Nathalie Moll, Secretary General of EuropaBio, concluded: “We are encouraged by the Ministers agreement on an enhanced cooperation procedure which represents a step in the right direction towards achieving the three core goals set out by the EU 2020 Strategy. We now urge the European Institutions and member states to ensure that the jurisdictional regime is addressed as soon as possible to make enhanced cooperation an operational success. We must also not forget that in the meantime, the ratification of the London Agreement1 by Member States should continue to be a priority. ”

- Council of the European Union press release
- Background: Towards a unitary patent protection in Europe

Website: http://www.europabio.org

Published: March 10, 2011