António Campinos, President of the European Patent Office (EPO), and Christophe Haunold, President of the Association of European Science and Technology Transfer Professionals (ASTP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The purpose of the agreement is to provide a general framework that will guide collaboration activities between the two organisations.
The agreement reflects the shared interest of the EPO and ASTP in the essential role played by knowledge and technology transfer, as well as the commercialisation of intellectual property (IP), in bolstering innovation across Europe and globally.
As a Pan-European association with 1 300 members from 650 organisations and over 45 countries, ASTP serves as a gateway to the international knowledge transfer community. Its mission is to increase the economic and social impact of science and technology research through the promotion and professionalisation of knowledge transfer practices. The association is committed to knowledge transfer among universities and industry, a key area in which the EPO's PATLIB network of patent information centres offer guidance. This is also an area in which the EPO has published several recent case studies and a special report. Read more