EU4IP’s 1st Project Steering Committee meeting
On 27 June 2024, the EU4IP project held its first Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting. The project aims to strengthen IP rights in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Attendees included representatives from the European Commission directorates (such as DG NEAR, DG GROW, DG CNECT, DG TRADE and DG AGRI) and the IP offices from the beneficiary countries (Sakpatenti, AGEPI and UANIPIO). The Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), European Patent Office (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also took part as observers. The PSC meeting approved the Overall Work Plan (OWP), which outlines the overall strategy for the upcoming 42 months, and the 1st Work Plan (WP1), which details the activities that will take place during the first period of the project (from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2025).
The approval of the OWP and WP1 marks the beginning of the implementation phase of the EU4IP project and the end of the inception phase. Over the past six months, the project has been launched with its inauguration conference, the team established and the communication and visibility strategy was developed. Some ad hoc activities to support the beneficiary countries were carried out, including the integration of three universities to the PES Mundus programme. Most importantly, the fact-finding missions to Moldova, Georgia and Brussels along with the networking development and stakeholders’ consultations contributed to the design of the OWP and WP1.
At the PSC meeting, attendees highlighted the importance of the ‘Team Europe’ approach through the support of the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN). This approach, key to all EU-funded projects run by the EUIPO, involves the combined efforts of Member States and the users of the EU IP system to achieve more together than they could independently. The importance of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine aligning with the EU acquis, particularly Chapter 7 on IP rights, was highlighted as a key step to support the EU accession process and future integration into the EUIPN.