The European Patent Office (EPO) published on Thursday 18 April, its Strategic Plan 2023 for development of it’s activities. This Plan is built around three main axes: strengthening the organisation based on knowledge and collaboration, simplifying its internal processes and facilitating access to patents.
This Strategic Plan represents a first “attempt” to meet the needs of the various stakeholders (especially the Member States, the organisation being intergovernmental) within four years, explains EPO President António Campinos.
“This is not an exhaustive Plan. Nor is it final “, he adds in his foreword. The Plan thus proposes the improvement and rationalisation of internal IT tools to speed up the examination of patent applications, the simplification of procedures and also the extension of access to patentability.
Finally, the organisation proposes to improve governance and, above all, to refocus on staff in order to attract “talent” by ensuring a “healthy” environment and a fair balance between professional and private life. The question of the EPO’s staff is also included as the first point of the Strategic Plan. The organisation is regularly singled out for the internal management of its staff, which has been harsh and arbitrary, particularly under the previous president (see EUROPE 11504/11).
Another challenge: the implementation of the unitary patent, which should greatly simplify patenting at European level, remains pending until German ratification (see EUROPE 12167/18).
To view the full Strategic Plan: https://bit.ly/2GrW8D5. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)