European Patent Office Academic Research Programme – 2019 Call Open

The European Patent Office (EPO) is the executive arm of the European Patent Organisation and was established in 1973. The EPO’s Academic Research Programme seeks to encourage more academic research on the role of patents in the European economy and to promote the dissemination of research results.

The grants will be awarded to a limited number of well-defined projects addressing a specific question within seven thematic areas, spanning various disciplinary fields including economics, IP management, and data sciences. Interdisciplinary projects will also be considered.

The thematic areas are:

Measuring the impact of patents on innovation.

The role of patents in technology transfer, commercialisation, and/or investment decisions.

Patent services and intermediaries.

Patents and disruptive technologies (AI, blockchain, 3D, etc).

Impact of public policy and the regulatory landscape on the use of patents by SMEs and PROs across Europe.

Patents and climate change mitigation technologies.

Advanced use of PATSTAT, patent searching, and analytics (eg classification, potential of IP linked open data).

Eligible applicants are research institutes based in a member state of the European Patent Organisation or – in exceptional cases – individuals who are nationals of one of the EPO’s member states. In the case of cross-organisational co-operation, the proposal must be submitted and the project led by a research institute based in a member state of the European Patent Organisation.

The available budget for the 2019 Call for Proposals is €300,000. Selected projects will be granted between €20,000 and €100,000 each.

Applications must be submitted to EPO by the deadline of 12 June 2019.

More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.