Much of economic growth and prosperity depends on the success of innovative and dynamic SMEs, including start-ups.

SMEs are vital to the European economy, generating 67 per cent of total employment and accounting for 99 per cent of the EU's business fabric.

Helping them to protect their Intellectual Property rights is an important part of the mission of EU Intellectual Property organisations.

Statistics show that SMEs with registered IP rights have almost a third more revenue per employee than SMEs without registered IP.

Since IP rights are a way of transforming intellectual capital into financial capital, strategies were devised to help EU SMEs become more competitive, and this fund to support trade mark, patent and design registrations was created.

The SME Fund will provide financial support for EU SMEs to protect their intellectual property (IP) rights.

The support consists of awarding a voucher which will give access to partial reimbursement of the official fees payable.

There are two types of voucher and up to € 5.500 of non-repayable funding can be obtained.

The earliest applications are most likely to receive the benefit, so it's advantageous to submit them as early as possible.

• Up to 250 employees;
• Turnover up to 50 million euros or balance sheet up to 43 million euros;
• Submit applications for trade mark, patent and/or design registrations.li>

• Sole proprietors with a registered business.

• € 700,00 for services 1 and 2 above.
• € 3.500,00 for service 3 above.
• € 1.350,00 for service 4 above.

The three maximum amounts are cumulative, totalling a maximum of € 5.550,00/year per SME.

There is no limit to the number of IP rights each SME can register. However, the total amount of a grant is limited to a maximum of € 5.550,00 per entity/year (as mentioned above).

Vouchers are valid for 2 months and can be extended for a further 2 months if requested in the last 30 days of the original 2-month period. You must request at least one activity and ask for a refund within this period of validity, otherwise the voucher will expire and there will be no right to a refund.

No, you can request the different services (trademarks, IP Scan, designs and patents) and the corresponding refund at any time within the time limits mentioned.

• Trademarks: Product or service name, Figure, 3D Image, Sound, Slogan, Labels, Hologram, Flavour;
• Design: APP and software layouts, web pages, containers, packaging, wrapping, moulds, product components, product lines, textures and contours, fonts and lettering, handicrafts, furniture, footwear, earrings, necklaces, ornaments, shop layouts, hotels and restaurants;
• Patents: Inventions that are new and inventive compared to what is already known.

• A copy of the bank statement that includes the following data: company name as account holder, IBAN number and BIC or SWIFT code (for refund purposes);
• Scanned copy of the declaration of activity obtained from the Finance Portal (which includes, among other details, the VAT framework);
• Declaration of SME Representative, duly signed by the company.

Reimbursement is made to the SME's bank account indicated at the time of application.

1. Create an Intellectual Property strategy for 2025 for your company;
2. Identify innovation in your business and what can and should be protected;
3. Analysing your current Trademark, Patent and Design portfolio and checking which products and services have registrations, whether they are up to date and whether any need to be protected to ensure competitiveness and exclusivity;
4. Priority searches to avoid spending money on registrations that could potentially be rejected;
5. Submitting applications for funds;
6. Submitting applications for trade mark, patent and/or design registrations.

Contact us using this form or by emailing gastao@gastao.com to find out more about this topic and how you can take advantage of the funds made available by EUIPO.