A new financing and advisory mechanism to help innovative European SMEs secure high-quality patents and build effective portfolios will be rolled out across Europe in 2019, it was revealed today. The creation of Patent Factory Europe (PFE) was announced at the IP Europe Annual SME Summit, taking place in Brussels. It will be run by IP Europe and French sovereign fund France Brevets, with additional funding being provided by Qualcomm.

PFE has two objectives: to help SMEs bridge the period between their creation as start-ups and access to their first and following Series A and B rounds of venture capital investments; and to support the success of existing and forthcoming EU innovation initiatives by providing a gateway to funding.

In helping start-ups and SMEs to build strong patent portfolios, PFE will support their continued growth by ensuring the protection of innovative technology, products and services. It will also enable SMEs to raise capital to support their development and sustain growth without being forced to sell either equity or even the business as a whole to larger, potentially non-European, entities. (…)

This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in IAM on 22 June. You can read it in full here.