Egyptian patents protect R&D&i and support SMEs

Through the twinning project on patents in Egypt funded by the European Union, staff from the Egyptian Patent Office (EGPO) have worked on a virtual mission to establish a strategy to promote the patent system, enhancing the existing collaboration between EGPO, universities and research centres.

Specialists from the Danish Patent and Trademark Office have supported their Egyptian counterparts in order to protect the results of their R&D processes through the patent system, in addition to using the technological information contained in these patent documents.

Adequate protection of R&D&i results is very important for both universities and research centres, as this allows them to promote technology transfer to industry, which provides them with a way of financing and marketing their research.

The UN considers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to be the backbone of economies, and in global terms they account for around 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide.

Through this European project, which is managed by FIIAPP, specialists from the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) have implemented different training sessions and workshops to support EGPO staff in mapping the associations, organisations, commercial intermediaries and public institutions that are working with innovative and entrepreneurial SMEs in Egypt.

The objective of these missions is to help EGPO approach these SMEs to make them aware of the importance of protecting their innovations and/or inventions through patents, which will allow them to be more competitive, reach new markets and sell their products abroad.

This patent protection gives SMEs a competitive tool to reach the market with advantage, positioning and power against competition and is always a requirement from investors, since a patent grants an exclusive right for 20 years to exploit the object of the patent and prevents competitors from doing so.