Europe produces an impressive amount of high-quality research and innovation, but only a small part is transformed into successful new products on the market. To solve this problem, it will be key to ramp up the exploitation of intellectual property rights, standardisation and certification of innovative solutions. Barriers also must be removed to create a more pro-commercialisation mindset in universities and research organisations and to improve the collaboration between industry, academia and other public sector organisations. 

More agile innovation pathways that can pool EU, national and private investments are needed to bring to the market capital intensive strategic technologies. Establishing a framework that facilitates coordination of national and EU innovation policies and programmes may help maximise the impact of innovation support across Europe. Unlocking the potential of using intellectual property rights as collateral could open additional routes to financing.

Making public and private procurement more innovation-friendly and raising public and private procurement investments in innovative solutions is  another objective of the European Innovation Act. Supporting innovative companies in developing and testing their innovations, both in state-of-the-art research and technological infrastructures and through regulatory sandboxes, are also important towards safely placing innovative products on the market. Enabling innovative companies to better attract and retain talent, including through attractive employee ownership schemes can help them grow in the EU market.

Excessive red tape and fragmentation of the EU Single Market is still a barrier for bringing innovations to the market. Innovation-proofing legislation, while it is under preparation or revision through an innovation stress test, could simplify and make the existing regulatory framework more-innovation friendly. Having a common definition across the EU for startups, scaleups and innovative companies could also help unlock their full potential and facilitate their operation across the EU Single Market.

For latest information on the European Innovation Act, refer to the official European Commission webpage.

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