... the generation of revenue from high-impact patents - specifically those that make significant returns for companies in global markets.
The EU also needs to improve the functioning of its internal market for protected knowledge, the Commission says.
Citing the new report Innovative Union Scoreboard 2010, commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn calls for improvements in generating revenue from high-impact patents, specifically those that make significant returns for companies in global markets.
The EU also needs to improve the functioning of its internal market for protected knowledge, the Commission urges. It points to the dynamism of Chinese firms in particular, enabling that nation to "continue rapidly to narrow its performance gap with the EU".
However, the Scoreboard report, published February 2, is not entirely downbeat, revealing that the EU is outperforming the US in public R&D spending and exports of knowledge-intensive services.
Given that translation costs make patents in the EU much more expensive than in the US, the EC last year backed a move to launch a simplified and cheaper European patent system.
Germany, the UK and several other countries want a fast-track deal on patents under the "enhanced co-operation" procedure. The mechanism enables a minimum of nine EU countries to drive through such a measure, even if it has not been agreed by the entire EU membership of twenty-seven nations.