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A faster approval path for strategic technologies such as AI, clean tech and biotech, to counter China's growing lead in patent volume and shorten Europe's innovation cycles.
Europe still produces world-class research, but the journey from filing to granted patent remains slower than the pace of the technologies it is meant to protect. In AI, a two-year examination cycle is a product generation. China, meanwhile, is scaling patent volume faster than any other region.
A fast-track examination path for strategic technologies, AI, clean tech and biotech first, would shorten Europe's innovation cycles where speed matters most. The unitary patent was the structural fix; velocity is the operational one.
The point is not to match China filing for filing. Volume is not quality. The point is that a European inventor should never lose a market window waiting for their own patent office.
The data behind this insight
Policy recommendations from the S9+ coalition, the startup organisations of Europe's digital frontrunner (D9+) countries, driven by Danish Entrepreneurs.
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