10.01.2023

THE PATENT OFFICE GRANTS OF UP TO 1,500 EUROS TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

The Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria announced a grant for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for the protection of intellectual property in 2023. The vouchers, which will be available this year, cover up to 90 percent of the costs and almost all activities that SMEs need to carry out in the process of acquiring protection for their intellectual property, with the maximum amount for reimbursement reaching 1500 euros.

The Patent Office informs businesses that the EU Office for Intellectual Property (SESIS) foresees a new initiative to increase the budget of the Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises in the EU for 2023. The aim is to support businesses in increasing their competitiveness through better protection and use of intellectual property rights.

“Work on the SME Support Program was launched on a pilot basis in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then the SME Fund 2021 was approved and created within the framework of the COSME program. Its aim was to provide financial support to those EU SMEs who wish to either obtain a service for preliminary diagnosis of intellectual property (IP Scan) or obtain protection for their trademarks and/or designs", commented Prof. Vladya Borisova, Chairman of the Patent Office.

The aggregated results are conclusive: 12,989 EU-level grant requests were submitted for a total of €3,750,172.60, with an average payout of €500. In 2021, 77 percent of SMEs who applied for grants were first-time IP applicants, and 52 percent of beneficiaries indicated that they would not have applied for intellectual property protection without the Fund's support SMEs.

This gives the Office reason not only to continue the work of the Fund, but also to update some of the actions so that they meet the needs of SMEs as much as possible, commented the Patent Office of Bulgaria.

The vouchers

• Voucher 1 will reimburse up to 90 percent of the cost of intellectual property pre-diagnosis services up to €1,350 (subject to applicable national costs for that service, with a maximum service cost of €1,500). This would allow SMEs to take full advantage of the scan of their intellectual property portfolio and still have the funds to apply for additional IP rights following the recommendations of the IP scan report.
• Voucher 2 will cover trademark and design registration at national, regional, European and international level for a maximum of €1,000. The recovery rate will remain at 75 percent for trademarks and designs filed at the national, regional and European level and 50 percent for trademarks and designs filed at the international level.
• Voucher 3 for national and European patents, which will extend the possibility of reimbursement of fees for filing national and European patents and prior art research. The amount of the grant and the reimbursement rate are also increased to €1,500 and 75 percent, respectively.
• Voucher 4, which will cover 50 percent of the fee for electronic submission of applications for plant varieties at EU level (€225). By providing financial support for the registration of plant varieties, the SME Fund will support SMEs involved in the green and digital transition, while supporting the objectives of the EC Green Deal. There will be no performance period for this voucher as only the application fee will be eligible for refund.

There are two significant changes for 2023 – an increase in the budget and a shorter activation period for each of the four vouchers, reduced to two months with the possibility of extending it to four months. This would help to optimize the implementation of the budget by allowing a faster release of unused funds to SMEs.

"SMEs are the driving force of the European economy and account for 65.2 percent of all jobs in the EU. In Bulgaria, the picture is no different - SMEs traditionally contribute to three quarters of total employment and to nearly 65 percent of the added value in the country's economy", says Prof. Borisova and adds that it is they who offer innovative solutions to many urgent challenges and help spread innovation across Europe. However, only 10 percent of European SMEs have registered intellectual property rights. Therefore, according to all analyses, they need support to increase their competitiveness through better protection and use of intellectual property objects.

Context

The SME Fund is an initiative that aims to financially support small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU in protecting and managing their intellectual property rights through the national, regional, European and international intellectual property systems, using part of the Office's financial reserves. The initiative is implemented by the Office in partnership with the European Commission and with the support of the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN).

In November 2020, the Management Board and the Budget Committee approved the establishment of the 2021 SME Fund under the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) programme. The action started on January 11, 2021 and ended on June 30, 2022.

Based on the success and lessons learned from this first call for proposals, in November 2021 the Management Board and the Budget Committee approved the establishment of the multiannual initiative "SME Fund" for the period 2022-2024 under the Single Market Program (SMP) of EU.