The Ideas Powered for business SME Fund has hit a new milestone of 15 000 applications in the first half of 2022 — a total of 28 000 since the initiative began in January 2021.
Most applications come from Spain (2652), Italy (1855), Poland (1702) and France (1232) from the manufacturing sector, retail, science, technologies, information and communication industries, among others.
About the SME Fund
The initiative grants financial aid for Intellectual Property (IP) matters and has provided support to SMEs across 27 EU countries. It is a European Commission initiative implemented by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) with the support of the National Offices.
SMEs can save up to EUR 2 250 if they choose to protect their IP rights through the SME Fund and it can also encourage them to act more competitively.
Its impact
The SME Fund had a significant educational impact on European companies. Nearly 80 % of them have had their first contact with the world of IP through this initiative.Moreover, the SME Fund is useful for companies of all sizes considering that as many as 96 % of these businesses are micro-enterprises.
Its positive impact is partly due to its simplicity (the registration process is straightforward). It has also captured the attention of entrepreneurs who need support to grow and succeed in competitive markets by taking advantage of their intangible assets.
As a result of the SME Fund’s success, the European Commission and the EUIPO have recently increased the Fund by €10 million.
A bit of history
The SME Fund was set up in 2020, in the wake of COVID-19, to assist with IP rights to European small and medium-sized businesses. The aim was to provide financial support for trade mark and design applications as well as for the IP Scan service, a key tool for developing SMEs’ intellectual property strategy. In 2022, the Fund was expanded to accept national patent applications in EU countries
The initiative is set to run until 16 December 2022.
Find out how SMEs can apply for this grant hereafter: SME Fund page