The ESN is the collective voice of European start-ups, representing them to European policymakers, and connecting them with corporations and investors to gain access to talent, expertise, funding, and customers.

The EUIPO is the European agency responsible for managing the EU trade mark and the registered Community design, which are valid in all EU Member States.

With the help of the ESN, this collaboration allows the EUIPO to empower European SMEs and start-ups to stay competitive by taking advantage of the benefits intellectual property can provide. The ESN is in a unique position to promote the EUIPO’s SME initiatives among its members.

The parties welcome this agreement, which covers activities such as training on intellectual property, knowledge exchange, participation in events, collaboration on social media, raising general awareness of IP and informing start-ups about the different services available.

Inge Buffolo, Customer Department Director, EUIPO

´It is a pleasure to welcome the ESN to the Ideas Powered for business network. Representing 31 organisations in Europe, the ESN is ideally suited to share expertise related to start-ups and scaleups and their needs.

Working together we can maximise the many positive aspects of intellectual property for start-ups. We are looking forward to developing new synergies as a result of this collaboration agreement.´

Jan Bormans, CEO, ESN

´IP is often key for the success and growth of European start-ups. ESN believes that a sound IP management is crucial and should be an integral part of the strategy of any start-up.

However, as the domain of IP can sometimes be difficult to navigate, we are welcoming the collaboration with EUIPO that will provide guidance and clear tools to help start-ups strengthen their IP assets.´