Spain: Use of Funds for Patenting and Technology Protection

26 April is World Intellectual Property Day, a date that, among other things, puts emphasis on the important role these rights play in matters of technological innovation. This year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) wishes to highlight the contribution that thousands of women have made and continue to make every day to industry and creativity, and to encourage female talent to use the industrial property system, including trademarks, patents, designs and utility models, which are still underrepresented.

Protection and enforcement are important

Although creativity has no limits, its use is limited. To protect creative works and the interests of those who turn them into new inventions, there is industrial and intellectual property, a recognized worldwide body of law that seeks to protect the results of human genius. These formless assets, such as innovation and the ability to invent, are the foundation of progress and social well-being because they offer solutions to real-world problems. It is therefore important to provide them with guarantees.

According to Nuria Marcos, intellectual and industrial property encompasses a set of rights that protect, on the one hand, the image of the company and all the elements associated with branded goods and services, and, on the other hand, everything related to business innovation, through the recognition of patents, utility models, designs and trade secrets.

In the context of industrial property, this function acts as a kind of guarantee and protection that allows businesses and companies to develop in an increasingly complex and technological world. Patenting innovations not only facilitates entry into the global marketplace by verifying the feasibility of developing certain technologies with a partner through Freedom to Operate (FTO) reports, but also helps license commercial exploitation locally or alerts us to potential infringement of our intellectual right to a third party. Currently, registering a patent is one of the keys to obtaining funding for our project. "Imagine a startup that is looking to grow and is looking for investment," comments Nuria Marcos. "When an investment fund comes in, the first question is where that company's industrial property portfolio is, to find out how well protected all the assets are and to make a robust assessment of the value of that company. "

This is straightforward routine for PONS IP advisers. PONS IP offers comprehensive support in both areas thanks to a team of more than 130 people with various specializations in law, legal security and one of Spain's largest groups of patent specialists in sectors such as chemistry, biotechnology and mechanics, especially as regards software.

Promoting female talent

With the theme "Women and Industrial Property: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity," this year's World Intellectual Property Day will be marked by an admiring "Yes, it's possible" attitude from all women who are pioneering inventors, creators and entrepreneurs. As WIPO says, "when innovation, creativity and enterprise are inclusive, all people benefit. "

Every year, more women rely on industrial property to protect their technologies, brands and creativity. The recent report "Women's Participation in Inventive Activities" published by the European Patent Office (EPO) provides good data: in Spain, almost one in four inventions is attributed to a woman. This ratio is almost double the European average (13.2%).

The percentage of patent applications made by women is, however, decreasing significantly. According to Nuria Marcos, this is largely due to traditional factors: "It stems from the fact that previous generations of women did not penetrate the work environment, much less innovation." Now that women are getting more into these processes and, becoming even a majority in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, we can only wait. "Industrial ownership is always a little behind entrepreneurship and innovation," she adds. "We just need more time to see a marked increase in innovation activity on the part of women. "

Besides family policy and equality, education and communication play a key role in fostering an inclusive and diverse innovation environment. It is also important to have "feminine values" in innovation that inspire and motivate future generations. As an example, she points to Helena Garcia Armada, founder of Marsi Bionics, winner of the 2022 European Inventor Prize for her pioneering pediatric exoskeleton.

The question of culture

One of the main obstacles we face in Spain, which also affects other countries with similar legal regulations, such as those in Latin America, is a culture focused primarily on tangible assets rather than the formless.

This differs from the spirit of other countries that, although geographically close to us, such as France or Germany, are still characterized by a greater emphasis on the creation of industrial and intellectual property rights. According to Nuria Marcos, the difference between us and the north of Europe is "the level of industrialization" and the fact that these countries "have this concern in their culture and see the benefit in using such formless assets to diversify business models. "

Besides northern Europe - "with the exception of Italy, which has always been closely associated with innovation and creative industries through fashion" - the United States and China are two of the largest patent applicants in the world. Specifically, China ranks first in the number of patent applications with "very important public funding for patenting," which has allowed it to become not only the factory but also the creative mind of the world.

In Spain, although we're a long way from China's numbers, the good news is that we continue to make progress. According to the 2022 report of the European Patent Office, "1,925 European Union patents" were filed from Spain, the second best result ever, since 2021 set a historical record with a value 1% higher.

Nuria Marcos speaks evaluating data, saying that "if these figures had continued", thinks that these are very good numbers, but they are related to the pandemic and the rapid digital transformation we have undergone due to isolation. In her view, now is the time to "seize the moment" and use the momentum from projects of strategic importance to rebuild and transform the economy to "patent technology and not let it go elsewhere, otherwise Spain will remain so dependent on an ever-changing geopolitical context in the world. "

Looking to the future from the present

When asked about the sectors in which Spain can be a strong country, Nuria Marcos is clear: we have great potential in "mobility, health, biotechnology, agriculture, green energy and information and communication technologies. "

To progress in these and other sectors, barriers to innovation must be removed. One of the frequent challenges faced by R&D professionals is the regulatory environment. Nuria expresses optimism: "fortunately, there are now measures that are of a small ideological nature that aim to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, and they have been adopted by the consent of different countries," she explains.

A good example is the recent adoption of the Startup Law, which, pending the publication of the Ministerial Order, ENISA announced that it has included the "indication of having a granted patent" in the certification process as a "startup company", as this proves that there is a case of innovative technology.

The European Commission already requires that "when there are assets obtained by funding research that can be protected by a patent, identify an effective strategy to ensure protection because the aim is to reach the market. "

In addition to political agreement, it is important to "have an appropriate tax environment that supports continuous measures and improvements within the country to enable growth." In her words, "we need to make sure that our big companies get big money for innovation so that they don't want to leave and can continue to generate and be a driving force in the ecosystem, along with other, smaller companies and strong research help to make it all work. "

We are on course for a digital future.

We are in an era of digital transformation, a process that began some time ago but, as we have seen, has accelerated over the pandemic years. Digitalization today is an indistinguishable phenomenon to which the business environment must adapt to a greater or lesser extent.

Also for PONS IP. With a 75-year history, this company has evolved, starting with incorporation, into "an international consulting firm, legal and technical, in intellectual property," according to its CEO.

For this company, digital transformation was already in the plans, but "really, it's accelerated, and we didn't think we could make this transition in such a short period of time. "

Nuria says the digitalization of internal tools and the use of new technologies in the legal practice allows her team to "be more efficient in basic tasks and buy more time to work on advisory services," which are "the added value we provide to our clients." Its goal is to be a "profit and efficiency gas pedal" through the safeguards that intellectual property provides.

PONS IP also acts as a technology platform that responds to the challenges organizations face today. In 2020, they introduced Safe Evidence, an innovative solution utilizing blockchain technology, qualified time stamps and advanced electronic signatures used to protect intellectual assets. In 2021, they expanded their line of advanced services for intellectual property management with_solution or Analytics, a technology solution based on machine learning and big data, specialized in surveillance and complete brand protection. In 2022, they advanced in the creation of legaltech solutions with the launch of their first business line ALSP (Alternative Legal Service Provider) SingularTM, an automated online platform for trademark registration, an innovator in the legal field in Spain and the European Union.

Today, PONS IP has a large patent team of around 40 technical experts who work with companies from all sectors, 12 of which are members of IBEX 35.

They also have a portfolio of 61,354 protected trademarks for our clients, of which over 12,000 are European Union marks. This is a very significant figure that makes PONS IP the leading company in Spain among intellectual and industrial property consultancy services and among the companies behind both domestic and foreign brands filed with EUIPO in the last 27 years.