University of Bremen- InnoWi becomes the official patent and trademark center in the state of Bremen
InnoWi GmbH – long-standing patent exploitation agency of the universities in the state of Bremen – is now taking on the tasks of a state-wide patent and trademark center and becomes an official cooperation partner of the German Patent and Trademark Office. In this way, she can provide even better advice on property rights.
The state universities in the state of Bremen have decided to restructure their InnoWi company into a patent and trademark center. This created a smooth transition from the previous Patent and Standards Center (PNZ) at the University of Bremen to the new structure. Since 1983, the center at the Neustadtswall university location has been the point of contact for companies and inventors for all questions about property rights and their own research.
InnoWi, in turn, is the point of contact for the region’s scientists when it comes to evaluating their inventions, accompanying patent applications and marketing them. Now the competencies will be brought together in a center and the services expanded.
Complete service package for universities, colleges and institutes
“The aim is now to offer and competently implement a complete service package from patent protection to patent exploitation for the university and universities in the state of Bremen as well as for scientific institutes in the region,” said the Chancellor of the University of Bremen, Dr. Martin Mehrtens. The Rector of the University of Bremen, Professor Karin Luckey, adds: “Patent applications are a reliable indicator of an economy’s ability to innovate. Universities play a major role in this. I expect further synergy effects for our federal state from the restructuring, as the cooperation with InnoWi GmbH is already excellent. “
Property rights have a long tradition in Bremen: The first marketable screw-in football shoe was invented in Bremen, “the hobbyist” Carl FW Borgward founded the automotive industry in Bremen with his numerous ideas and patents, the patented decaffeinated coffee from Kaffee HAG became the basis for coffee processing, Protected Bremen brand names such as Jacobs, Beck’s, Hachez and Co. are world-famous.
Even today, scientists and established, but also young, innovative companies develop impressive ideas and put them into practice. However, the correct handling of property rights is still the basis for further success. This requires good support.
Patent information centers encourage new ideas
There are currently more than 20 regional patent information centers across Germany. They offer comprehensive information on commercial legal protection and are recognized cooperation partners of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). As an all-round service provider in the field of industrial property protection, they support business, science and start-ups in the identification, use, monitoring and management of patents, utility models, trademarks and designs as well as in avoiding infringements of the rights of third parties. They are therefore important players in the German innovation landscape.
The basis for future cooperation between InnoWi and the DPMA is a cooperation agreement that has now been signed. InnoWi thus takes on the role of a recognized partner of the DPMA and complements its central range of services in the Bremen region and north-west Lower Saxony. “We are pleased that with InnoWi GmbH we have been able to win a high-performance organization for our network of regional partners. In this way we can ensure that companies, universities and independent inventors in the Bremen region continue to be well supplied with information on the subject of intellectual property and our services, ”says DPMA President Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer.
SMEs are the most important economic engine
Over 95 percent of all companies in Europe are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 250 employees. In Germany, this figure is as high as 99.6 percent; almost 60 percent of all employees work there. This makes them the most important economic engine in our country.
According to a study by the European Patent Office and the Office of the European Union for Intellectual Property from 2019, industries that make intensive use of industrial property rights contribute 45 percent of the EU’s gross domestic product annually. They provide 63 million jobs (29 percent of total EU employment). Industries that make intensive use of property rights also have a higher added value and can therefore pay their employees significantly better than other economic sectors. Salaries in these economic sectors in the EU are 47 percent higher than those in other sectors. In patent-intensive areas, salaries are even 72 percent higher (source: IPR-intensive industries and economic performance in the European Union – Industry-Level Analysis Report,
Support with property rights and their exploitation
InnoWi GmbH has been supporting scientists in the region about property rights and their exploitation since 2002. The team specializes in evaluating inventions, researching property rights and marketing them. “We currently look after 170 patents and patent applications from science. This means that the universities are among the largest patent applicants in the state of Bremen ”, explain Lieselotte Riegger and Jens Hoheisel, the two managing directors of InnoWi.
In addition, InnoWi has been advising small companies and founders on issues of property rights for the past three years. The first measures were funded by the European funding program ERDF. With the transfer to a patent and trademark center, the state of Bremen is taking on further financing for the corporate sector.
Lieselotte Riegger and Jens Hoheisel and their team are now looking forward to the new task and challenge. “We will do everything in our power to provide the best possible support in the next few years for all those who have good ideas and want to implement them. We also offer individual advice as well as events and in-house training. “
The information center will be accessible from Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Those seeking advice can receive advice on all questions relating to industrial property rights. The InnoWi team also provides support with property right research, for which a separate research room is available. However, support is currently only possible online. The InnoWi can be reached at: mailinnowi .de or 0421/960070