Recently, the V.O. Belgian offices were recognized again for a period of five years as partners of the Agency for Innovation & Enterprise (VLAIO). As the Flemish government's point of contact for all entrepreneurs in Flanders, VLAIO supports innovation and entrepreneurship and contributes to a favorable entrepreneurial climate, actively working with partners. The main focus is on stimulating growth and innovation, for example, through grants such as the SME portfolio and the SME growth grant. To promote entrepreneurship, companies can be mentored by the participating partners in the development from startup to mature company and in possible acquisitions.

Implementation of the new European patent system, better known as the European Patent Court or UPC (Unified Patent Court) has been delayed again because constitutional complaints against approval were filed with the German Constitutional Court for the second time in January this year. The first time this happened was in 2017. Because this suspended the entire procedure, the approval law was not adopted by the German Bundestag until November 2020, and was approved by the Federal Council in December. Until recently, German ratification was expected to take place during 2022. The two new complaints have dashed those hopes.

The new system is an alternative for the existing validation process of European patents in individual countries. When validating, instead of individual countries, one can then also choose to register as a unitary patent or UP, which makes the patent immediately valid in all participating countries. This represents a major simplification of the entire validation process. Also, only one translation is needed, so no separate translations per country. There will also then be no annual fees for the individual countries. The European Patent Office charges a single annual fee for maintaining the UP in participating countries. In addition to the UPC, the current European patent system will be maintained.

For more information, see the file 'A new European patent system' on our website.

Recently, the partnership of V.O. has been expanded. As of

1 January, patent attorneys Tamara Elmore and Annemiek Tepper joined as new partners, followed on 1 April by Jasper Groot Koerkamp, Frits Michiels and Bart Jan Niestadt.

Tamara Elmore joined V.O. (Utrecht) in 2009 after working for several years as a US patent agent in Boston. Annemiek Tepper exchanged her academic career for the patent profession when she joined V.O. in 2002, where she represents the Groningen office. Before joining V.O. (Amsterdam, The Hague) in 2015, Jasper Groot Koerkamp worked for several years as in-house IP counsel in France. Frits Michiels has been with V.O (Amsterdam, The Hague) since 2006, after a long scientific career at knowledge institutes and biotech companies. Bart Jan Niestadt worked in the telecommunications industry before entering the patent profession in 2001. In 2011 he joined V.O. (Eindhoven) as a patent attorney.

V.O. warmly congratulates these colleagues on their promotion.

The innovation competitions that the four Dutch technical universities organize each year recently started up again:
•    Rethink Proteins Student Challenge (Wageningen, www.wur.nl)
•    TU Delft Impact Challenge (Delft, wwwtudelftcontest.nl)
•    UT Challenge (Twente, www.utchallenge.nl)
•    TUe Contest (Eindhoven, www.tuecontest.nl)

The finals take place in June. With these competitions, students are challenged on their ingenuity, creativity and intelligence. To make it through to the finals, they must not only be able to think well out-of-the-box, but also demonstrate a lot of ‘business sense’. Business plans, prototypes and real-world examples from participants are developed, tested, analyzed and evaluated, and the best ideas are rewarded with funding and guidance. As a business partner, V.O. enthusiastically supports these competitions by providing IP advice and services under the adage ‘activate your ideas’!