TECHRIGHTS has been utterly disappointed with the policies set in place by the European Commission in recent years. Not only policies disappoint but also procurement irregularities and misinformation that comes from people like Barroso, who parrot some other lawyers' propaganda. Barroso is a laywer, just like many of his peers in politics, and he repeats the patent lawyers' disinformation which piggybacks SMEs just like Microsoft's front group Association for Competitive Technology.
Research and innovation hold the key to Europe's future competitiveness. This is another area where acting now will pay rich dividends in the future. We have tabled important proposals to help SMEs to access finance and to support innovative companies, for example through a European venture capital regime. And I need not repeat how important a swift agreement on a European patent is - after a thirty year wait, it is time to deliver.
It costs ââ¬2,000 in the US, and up to ââ¬40,000 in Europe. The single EU patent should make things simpler and cheaper, but its implementation is complicated.
The European standardisation system is being revamped. In the European Parliament, the Consumer Committee (IMCO) under its rapporteur Lara Comi (EPP, Italy) is deliberating a proposal from the European Commission. Parliament members face tricky regulatory decisions on the standardisation of services and participation of small enterprises.
These issues overshadow a ground-breaking novelty: an official "recognition" for specifications from private sector consortia in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT). Those "recognised ICT specifications" are not "standards" (developed by standards organisations) but still could be legally referenced by tenders for public procurement.