Inovarea industriala The European Commission provides support for innovation through a series of initiatives and actions aimed

at providing financial support to innovators, as well as better innovation support services for SMEs, notably start-ups, by developing and testing new forms of business support and facilitating transnational cooperation with a view to mobilising more resources for the creation of a European Innovation Space. DG Enterprise and Industry support s this aim through the CIP financial instruments, through policy cooperation under the PRO INNO Europe initiative, partnership platforms between European innovation professionals under Europe INNOVA and through the IPR Helpdesk that provides assistance on intellectual property issues for EU funded projects. The Enterprise Europe Network will play a key role in the wider roll-out of the resulting innovation tools and services by providing customised information, guidance and training on the benefits to SMEs and business support providers throughout Europe. These initiatives are financed by the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). During 2006-2012, the PRO INNO Europe initiative has been the focal point for innovation policy analysis and policy cooperation in Europe, aimed at learning from the best and contributing to the development of new and better innovation policies in Europe. The ultimate objective was to help European enterprises to innovate better and faster and to optimise and leverage complementarities between the various innovation support measures in Europe, be it at regional, national or European level. To achieve this, PRO INNO Europe has given a prominent role to national and regional innovation policy and innovation support actors. The initiative comprises 5 building blocks that provide an integrated policy approach to develop new and better innovation policies. Together they provide analysis, benchmarking and development tools and activities to enhance the performance of innovation policy and support measures and to further cooperation between innovation policy makers across Europe. Each building block forms part of either the policy analysis or the policy cooperation pillars of the PRO INNO Europe initiative: Policy analysis 1. Benchmarking of innovation performance (INNO-Metrics) 2. Analysing major innovation trends (INNO-Policy Trendchart) 3. Pooling of world-wide knowledge and contacts with regard to innovation policy and business innovation and facilitating a dialogue between public authorities, industry and academia on innovation policy (INNO-GRIPS) The main objectives of the policy analysis pillar are to measure and benchmark innovation performance, analyse innovation policy trends at national and regional level and bring together available worldwide information on innovation issues from policy, business and academia. More information is available here. Policy cooperation

4. Stimulating transnational innovation policy cooperation (INNO-Nets) 5. Providing incentives for joint innovation actions (INNO-Actions) The policy cooperation pillar focuses on cooperation between innovation policy makers It has served to develop and test new innovation policy concepts with a view to improving the design, implementation and delivery of innovation policies and support measures at Member State and European level thereby raising the effectiveness and more rapid uptake of new forms of innovation policy support throughout Europe. Europe INNOVA is an initiative which aspires to become the laboratory for the development and testing of new tools and instruments in support of innovation with the view to help innovative enterprises innovate faster and better. It brings together public and private innovation support providers such as innovation agencies, technology transfer offices, business incubators, financing intermediaries, cluster organisations and others. Launched in 2006, Europe INNOVA was designed to identify and analyse the drivers and barriers to innovation within specific sectors, to lead to sound and targeted support policy measures. Its sector-based approach reinforced cooperation between business clusters, finance and standardisation practitioners in Europe through the establishment of networks, i.e. learning platforms for exchanging experiences, good practice and knowledge to better serve SMEs. In 2009, a new set of Europe INNOVA actions is being launched, based on European Innovation Platforms in three high priority policy areas: transnational cluster cooperation, knowledge-intensive services and eco-innovation. The actions are oriented towards the development and testing of new innovation support services for SMEs, notably start-ups, delivered in the field by public-private partnerships made up of European professionals in innovation. The support services will be tested in view of their wider application, e.g. by the Enterprise Europe Network. The initiative also supports the Lead Market Initiative by injecting dynamism into entrepreneurial innovation via catalysis between supply and improved demand factors, which unleashes the innovation dynamics in lead market areas covered by the European Innovation Platforms. The Enterprise Europe Network provides a wide range of services to SMEs and entrepreneurs, among others, helping them to access market information, overcome legal obstacles and identify potential business partners across Europe, including innovation support and transnational technology transfer services. The Enterprise Europe Network comprises about 600 partners in 44 countries employing around 4 000 experienced staff helping to increase the competitiveness of EU businesses. One of the Network 's main tasks is to expand and further develop services aimed at raising SMEs ' innovation capacities. In this respect, the Network will play a key role in the large-scale roll-out of the innovation tools and services developed and tested by Europe INNOVA and PRO INNO Europe projects by providing customised information, guidance and, where relevant, training on the potential and benefits of using these tools and services to SMEs and business support providers at local level via the Network partners in the regions.

Please visit the Network website to get in contact with your local partner. Learn about the innovation tools and services offered, and more than 8.000 offers and requests for cooperation with other companies.

Innovation is a source of growth and employment. So, in order to improve and boost it, the EU provides financial and services support. Moreover the EU fosters interaction and cooperation among innovation players, and aims to improve innovation support via regional policy programmes. Financial support for innovators The European Union provides direct financial support for innovators (enterprises, startups, research institutes, etc.) mainly through three funding programmes: the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) and the European Structural Funds' operational programmes. The programmes offer different types of funding (grants, loan guarantees, etc.) and are suitable for different innovation related activities.

The financial instruments under CIP, but also under some operational programmes of the Structural Funds, mainly provide venture capital and loan guarantees for business innovation activities through financial intermediaries. As support for SMEs is a central objective of the CIP, an SME funding portal has been set up More information on the financial support being provided within the Member States can be found on the Access2financewebsite.

Grants for market replication projects for proof of economic concept and investment readiness under the CIP, can be provided in the field of sustainable energy, ecoinnovation and ICT. Besides grants, the CIP is also used for service contracts mainly for the provision of analytical services; Research and development projects in a number of fields can be funded from the FP7; Structural Funds supply funding in a large number of national, regional and inter-regional operational programmes for a range of innovation-related activities, including research cooperation, technology transfer, ICT take-up, human resource development and support of start-ups and entrepreneurship. The Practical guide to EU funding opportunities for research and innovation provides information on how the FP7, CIP and Structural Funds may be combined, and contains a checklist with 6 steps that allows potential beneficiaries to identify under which programme they might be able to obtain EU funding for their research or innovation activities. Support services for innovators The Commission also provides a number of support services for innovators (enterprises, start-ups, research institutes, etc.). Besides the services provided by the EEN, the services include:

Some are based on direct customized assistance, in particular:

the IPR Helpdesk mainly provides information on intellectual property issues related to FP7; the Business Innovation Centres (BIC) provide innovation related business services on a commercial basis the China SME IPR Helpdesk provides free information, first-line advice and training support to European SMEs to protect and enforce their IPR in China Some are provided through Internet tools, in particular: the European e-Business Support Network (eBSN) for SMEs, serves as a one-stop-shop and on-line environment for all European e-business initiatives, launched by (or in collaboration with) public authorities at national, regional or local level, which aim at promoting the adoption of ICT and e-business among SMEs; the Innovation Management self-assessment tool provides an Innovation Management consulting process, including benchmarking; the Business Plan development tool gives an expert opinion on the completeness of the business plan and allows you to see how an innovative business project looks through the eyes of an investor. Europe INNOVA online tools & multimedia presentations Foster interaction and cooperation among innovation players Innovation is a systemic process for which the interactions between different innovation players (innovators, enterprises, research centres, innovation and development agencies, technology transfer offices, education and training institutes, investors, etc.) are vital. The EU therefore fosters these interactions, within regions and clusters, and their opening up through initiatives such as:

many Structural Funds' Operational programmes aim at facilitating and intensifying the interactions of innovation players in regions through cluster initiatives, technology transfer offices or the support of cooperation and networking - between universities and enterprises for example. Beyond the regions' or Member States' boundaries, the Structural Funds can support cross-border and trans-national cooperation of innovation players; the European Cluster Observatory helps, among others, to identify regions with clusters of sectoral specialisations that might be interesting for those seeking cooperation partners for an innovation project; the LivingLabs provide settings for user-driven open innovation in the field of ICT; the Regions of Knowledge part of FP7, supports development across Europe of regional 'research-driven clusters'; the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) aims to create Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KIC), which bring together enterprises with research and education; the European Cluster Alliance is an open platform for fostering trans-national cluster cooperation, and for improving cluster management capacities;

the pan-European network of knowledge transfer offices "ProTon", provides access to the largest Europe-wide Network of knowledge transfer offices. Improve innovation support The EU Member States and regions have the main competences and resources in Europe to support and facilitate innovation. Experiences with innovation support mechanisms are ample and varying. There is thus a large scope for mutual learning and cooperation, to obtain critical mass and to identify possibilities to improve innovation support provided through national and regional innovation agencies, and technology transfer offices etc. Besides the Europe INNOVA and PRO INNO Europeinitiatives, the Commission provides a number of other opportunities to facilitate this, for instance:

some Structural Funds' operational programmes offer the opportunity to invest in the development of regional innovation strategies tailored to the innovation needs and opportunities of regions, and to experiment with new tools for innovation support; the territorial cooperation objective of the Structural Funds also supports the exchange of experiences, and cooperation between innovation support providers and innovation policy-makers in networks of regions or cities. If capitalised on, previous experience and aimed at taking-up good practices in the implementation of the national or regional operational programmes, a "fast track" support under the Regions for Economic Change initiative can be received; the Commission provides access to good practices and methodologies for innovation support and transfer to other Member States and regions, for instance through a database of innovation measures of the EU Member States, thePAXIS Manual for Innovation Policy Makers and Practitioners, information on Innovative strategies and actions under Cohesion Policy or innovative actions with regard to new approaches to employment, vocational training and industrial adaptation; the Commission also provides know-how on the design and evaluation of regional innovation strategies, and contacts to regional innovation actors who have developed and implemented innovation strategies, for instance in the IRE Network, or the Regional Programmes for Innovative Actions (which ended in 2008), or the regional aspects of FP7 or case studies on regional innovation projects; the Commission also supports the capacity building of other important actors that facilitate innovation, such as investors or banks through the JASMINE initiative for micro-credit or raining and education actors with regard to e-skills.

Europa.eu (Romanian) Companiile i pot proteja proprietatea intelectual prin:

drepturi de proprietate industrial - brevete, modele de utilitate, desene, mrci, protecia soiurilor de plante, topografia circuitelor integrate, indicaii geografice - care trebuie nregistrate n fiecare stat membru al UE (desenele i mrcile comerciale pot fi nregistrate i la nivelul UE) Proprietatea industrial

drepturi de autor pentru operele literare originale i lucrrile artistice, muzic, emisiuni de televiziune, software, baze de date, creaii publicitare i multimedia acordate automat, nefiind necesar nregistrarea oficial Dreptul de autor si drepturi conexe strategii comerciale cum ar fi secretele comerciale, know-how-ul, acordurile de confidenialitate sau producia rapid Secrete comerciale Acorduri de confidenialitate Despre proprietatea intelectual - Organizaia Mondial a Proprietii Intelectuale [112 KB] Brevetele sunt drepturi naionale acordate de oficiile naionale de brevete. Nu exist un brevet unic pentru protejarea drepturilor pe tot teritoriul UE. O singur cerere de acordare a brevetului european aprobat de Oficiul European de Brevete (OEB) ofer protecie la nivel naional n acele state europene membre ale OEB pe care le-a selectat solicitantul. Tratatul de cooperare n domeniul brevetelor simplific aplicabilitatea la nivel internaional. Procedura de acordare a brevetelor - Oficiul European de Brevete Aplicabilitatea brevetelor la nivel internaional Solicitri naionale n rile UE mbuntirea sistemului de brevetare n Europa Drepturile asociate mrcilor i desenelor pot fi nregistrate la nivel naional sau european. Drepturile la nivel european sunt nregistrate de Oficiul pentru Armonizare n cadrul Pieei Interne, cu sediul la Alicante (Spania). Aceste drepturi sunt exclusive i valabile n toat Uniunea European. Mrcile comunitare (OAPI) Desenele comunitare (OAPI) Oficiul pentru Armonizare n cadrul Pieei Interne Solicitri naionale n rile UE UE depune eforturi n direcia exercitrii drepturilor de proprietate intelectual i deci acombaterii contrafacerii i pirateriei. Acestea au atins proporii alarmante, cu efecte semnificative asupra unor domenii precum inovarea, creterea economic, ocuparea forei de munc sau sntatea i protecia consumatorilor. n funcie de legislaia naional i de ara de provenien a bunurilor contrafcute, autoritile la care trebuie s se apeleze sunt vmile, organismele de supraveghere a pieei (inspectoratele comerciale), poliia sau oficiile de brevete i mrci.

Msuri privind exercitarea drepturilor de proprietate intelectual Protecia vamal mpotriva contrafacerii i pirateriei Drepturile de proprietate intelectual sunt nc protejate mai degrab de legislaia naional dect de dreptul european. Protejarea acestora n fiecare stat membru poate fi complicat i costisitoare, motiv pentru care este necesar o armonizare la scar mai larg. Drepturile de proprietate intelectual sunt reglementate de conveniile internaionaleiniiate de Organizaia Mondial a Comerului i de Organizaia Mondial a Proprietii Intelectuale. Organizaia Mondial a Proprietii Intelectuale