João Negrão, the Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), addressed the participants during the two-day meeting of representatives of the EU and the Ukrainian intellectual property community “Creating Today a Sustainable IP Platform for Tomorrow”.
For Mr Negrão, his visit to Ukraine was the first official visit since his recent appointment to the post:
“I am positively impressed by your country and your society. The way you cope in the most difficult conditions. Thanks to the Ukrainian IP office for their excellent work in difficult circumstances. This is an extraordinary example of professionalism and bravery. Hence, I thank the organisers for the invitation and certify that support and cooperation with Ukraine is one of my main priorities in the position of executive director. I am grateful for the opportunity to have this discussion, the opportunity for direct and honest dialogue, and the opportunity to hear about Ukraine’s greatest needs and the greatest obstacles you face in your daily work in the IP industry. This is a great chance for us to develop initiatives, specific meaningful measures for support.”
According to the executive director of EUIPO, one of the main tasks of the Office is to support entrepreneurs, business entities, and small and medium-sized businesses, because these form the basis of all healthy economies.
“We want to actively support Ukraine. That’s why we opened the opportunity for Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses to use our funds and apply for grants. Today, any small or medium-sized entrepreneur from Ukraine can take advantage of the SME Fund. And 50 Ukrainian entrepreneurs have already done this.
Ukraine is the only non-EU country that can use these benefits. And this, of course, is only the beginning of the measures that we strive to implement in the way of support.
In July, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding between EUIPO and the Ukrainian IP Office, the next step is the signing of the two-year Work Plan for 2024-2025 within the framework of this Memorandum. We hope that this will be a significant contribution to the further development of the Ukrainian IP system.”
Mr Negrão also thanked his colleagues from Poland, Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, who willingly and without any hesitation joined the two-day event in Kyiv to further support Ukraine.
Photo: Yurii Bielakh
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