Alicante: The European Innovation Act, which the European Commission proposed in Brussels on 9 September 2026, would give the EU Intellectual Property Office in Alicante a new mandate to value patents so that start-ups can borrow against them. The draft regulation now moves to the European Parliament and the Council, where lawmakers will test the Commission’s claim that it could add up to €452 billion to EU GDP over ten years.

The proposal targets a problem Brussels has described for two decades. Europe produces world-class research, yet others too often turn European ideas into commercial success elsewhere. Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva, who holds the startups, research and innovation portfolio, framed the package as an attack on fragmentation built on “one framework for IP valuation, one digital marketplace connecting buyers and sellers, and one simpler route for public procurement of cutting-edge research and development.”

The first pillar deals with finance. Under the European Innovation Act, EUIPO would develop a standardised EU-wide methodology to value intellectual property, run a digital marketplace where firms can buy and sell IP, and host an advisory centre that guides companies through IP-backed financing. Zaharieva pointed out that a start-up with a strong patent and a talented team still struggles to raise money because it lacks offices or factories to pledge as collateral.

The Commission estimates that the IP measures could unlock €10.2 billion a year in additional financing and save around €35 million in administrative costs. The Joint Research Centre gives a wider range, projecting between €2.7 billion and €10.2 billion a year in extra IP-backed finance depending on how well the tools work in practice.

The second and third pillars reshape public procurement of research and development. The act would create a common EU approach to R&D procurement, give public buyers more legal certainty and make it easier for authorities in different member states to run joint tenders. It would also make innovation-friendly procedures mandatory and set a preference for EU-made solutions. The Commission expects companies to gain €25.92 billion in extra annual profits and public buyers to save €1 billion a year.

Those headline figures rest on modelling by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, which ran the three reforms through its RHOMOLO regional economic model. In the cautious scenario, the European Innovation Act adds almost €256 billion to EU GDP over ten years and supports 238,000 extra jobs at peak. In the optimistic scenario, cumulative gains reach almost €452 billion and 507,000 jobs.

The JRC traces the largest share of growth to IP valuation, followed by procurement. It cites evidence that every euro spent on R&D procurement returns around three euros to suppliers, and it applies that ratio to the €17.3 billion that EU public bodies already spend on such contracts each year. The researchers argue that well-designed regulation can deliver returns comparable to direct investment programmes at a fraction of the budgetary cost.

The proposal sits within the Commission’s competitiveness compass, which aims to strengthen the bloc’s long-term prosperity and technological sovereignty. Zaharieva has described it as a first step toward a genuine single market for innovation by 2028, and the Commission is preparing a separate proposal on regulatory sandboxes so that innovators can test products before they reach the market.

Several questions will shape the negotiations. National procurement authorities will need to adapt to mandatory procedures, and the preference for EU-made solutions could raise questions from trading partners and from governments that favour open markets. The European Innovation Act must clear both co-legislators before EUIPO can start valuing a single patent.