site.btaIntellectual Property Should Drive Growth, Competitiveness, Speakers Say at Sofia Forum

Intellectual property should help turn ideas into growth, investment and jobs rather than merely protect innovation, speakers at the Innovation Empowered: Protect, Compete, Succeed conference in Sofia said on Thursday.

EUIPO Executive Director Joao Negrao said IP should "not just protect innovation, but also enable growth, attract investment, facilitate partnerships, and unlock new markets for companies". He added that Bulgaria's cooperation with the EUIPO had already produced results, with nearly 4,000 Bulgarian SMEs receiving support to protect and manage their intellectual property.

Director of WIPO's Division for Transition and Developed Countries Habip Asan said "economic power is increasingly built on ideas protected by intellectual property". He added that "an idea created in a lab, university or startup can reach global markets within months, sometimes even weeks", arguing that IP institutions should support the wider innovation ecosystem rather than act only as registration bodies.

European Patent Office President Antonio Campinos said patents "protect and stimulate investment in new products and technologies by turning ideas into assets and creating legal certainty for innovators". He added that patents were "not simply an opportunity but a strategic necessity" at a time of accelerating technological transformation.

Caretaker Economy Minister Irina Shtonova said innovation was "the engine of modern industry and the key to economic growth". She added: "Innovations turn ideas into technologies, technologies into businesses, and businesses into jobs."