Article 32 — Union Competence Centre for intellectual property-backed finance and
In brief
This article requires the European Union Intellectual Property Office (the Office, EUIPO) to establish a Competence Centre to support and promote intellectual property-backed finance and the commercialisation of intellectual property. It defines the entities the Centre serves and lists the tasks the Office is to perform through it, including a voluntary valuation and disclosure framework and a digital match-making platform. The Centre forms part of the Office and has no separate legal personality.
Key points
- The Centre supports researchers, innovative enterprises (including start-ups, scale-ups and spin-offs), other entities interested in commercialising IP assets, and entities that support them, all established in a Member State.
- Within four years of entry into force, the Office is to develop a voluntary Union framework for the valuation and disclosure of IP assets and establish a Union-wide digital match-making platform, where possible using the European Business Wallets.
- Further tasks include supporting a secondary market for IP assets, helping develop IP-backed financial instruments, skills programmes, awareness-raising, an evidence database, support for valorising publicly funded research, and a Union-level helpdesk.
- The Commission is to adopt implementing acts setting technical specifications for the framework and standards for the match-making platform, under the examination procedure of Article 38(2).
- Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 governs these tasks; set-up and running costs are met from the Office’s budget, and certain core services, including the valuation framework, the platform and the helpdesk, are free of charge.
What it means in practice
IP holders, researchers and innovative firms would gain a central Union point of support for using and financing their intellectual property, including voluntary tools for valuation, disclosure, licensing and transfer. Investors, financial institutions and insurers are directly addressed as stakeholders the Centre will support in designing and implementing IP-backed financial instruments and in accessing better market evidence.
Official text — Article 32 (COM(2026) 567)
commercialisation of intellectual property assets
1. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (‘the Office’) shall establish a
Competence Centre to support and pr omote intellectual property-backed finance and
commercialisation of intellectual property, including intellectual property resulting
from research and innovation and regulatory exclusivities for pharmaceuticals (‘the
Competence Centre’)
2. The Competence Centre shall support the following entities through its tasks:
(a) researchers established in a Member State;
(b) innovative enterprises established in a Member State, including innovative
startups, innovative scaleups and spin -offs, whose innovative and competitive
performance is driven by the ownership or use and commercialisation of
intellectual property rights;
(c) other public and private entities established in a Member State that have an
interest in the commercialisation of intellectual property assets;
(d) entities whose function is to support any of the entities referred to in points (a),
(b) and (c).
3. To improve access to finance for the entities referred to in paragraph 2, the Office
through the Competence Centre shall:
(a) by… [OP please insert date 4 years from the date of entry into force of this
Regulation], develop a voluntary Union framework for the valuation and
disclosure of intellectual property assets based on all types of intellectual
property rights and regulatory excl usivities for pharmaceuticals and designed
to facilitate its use across different sectors and its uptake by financial
stakeholders, where possible making use of the European Business Wallets,
established in accordance with [Regulation XXX of the European Parliament
and of the Council on the establishment of European Business Wallets ], or
alternative electronic means that that are interoperable with the European
Business Wallets, including by:
(i) setting up and maintaining digital process es and services related to the
disclosure, screening and valuation of intellectual property assets;
(ii) identifying and compiling best practices to support the development of
the voluntary valuation framework;
(iii) establishing, as an integral part of the framework, a voluntary disclosure
arrangements enabling undertakings to present information on their
intellectual property assets in a comparable and structured manner for
financing purposes.
(b) by… [OP please insert date 4 years from the date of en try into force of this
Regulation], establish and maintain, in close cooperation with the Commission,
a Union-wide digital match-making platform, where possible making use of the
European Business Wallets or alternative electronic means that that are
interoperable with the European Business Wallets , to facilitate, on a voluntary
basis, the licensing and transfer of intellectual property rights protected in the
Union.
(c) facilitate the development of a secondary market to support the disposal of
intellectual property assets held by the entities referred to in paragraph 2;
(d) support the relevant public and private financial stakeholders, including Union
institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, as well as financial institutions and
commercial banks, in defining and implementing new public and private
financial instruments backed by intellectual property, including the provision
of sound evidence on market needs, the analysis of data stemming from the
implementation of such financial instruments and the provision of IP -related
technical advisory services;
(e) establish and implement skill development programmes across the innovation
ecosystem in relation to intellectual property -backed finance and
commercialisation of intellectual property assets;
(f) raise awareness about intellectual property rights as a driver for the Union’s
innovation, growth and competitiveness and about intellectual property -backed
finance;
(g) support the progressive development of an evidence database on intellectual
property-backed financing, including by collecting on a voluntary basis and
analysing anonymised or other non -personal data from intellectual property -
backed financing transactions and, where appropriate, by establishing
mechanisms to facilitate the availability and use of such data, including, where
possible, through the use of European Business Wallets or alternative
electronic means that that are interoperable with the European Business
Wallets;
(h) provide support to the persons and entities referred to in paragra ph 2 in the
valorisation and commercialisation of intellectual property resulting from
publicly funded research and innovation, including through awareness raising
and capacity building in management of intellectual property, providing
assistance in defining intellectual property management and commercialisation
strategies;
(i) coordinate a Union -level helpdesk offering information and support services
related to intellectual property -backed financing to entities listed in paragraph
2.
The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, lay down the technical
specifications necessary for the uniform implementation of the voluntary Union
framework referred to in the first subparagraph, point (a), of this paragraph,
including the specifications concerning the content, comparability and
interoperability of disclosures. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in
accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 38(2). The Office
shall, in accordance with the technical specifications laid down pur suant to the
second subparagraph, develop, maintain and, where necessary, update the templates
and related operational tools for the implementation of the voluntary Union
framework
The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, lay down common techni cal
standards, interoperability requirements and operational specifications for the digital
match-making platform referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b), of this Article.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination
procedure referred to in Article 38(2).
4. Subject to the availability of an accumulated budgetary surplus and of the approval
of the Office’s Budget Committee, the Office may conclude contribution agreements
with the Commission for the implementation of clearly defined Union activities
falling within the scope of the tasks entrusted to the Office under this Regulation and
relating to intellectual property -backed finance and the commercialisation of
intellectual property assets. Such contribution agreements shall specify the respective
responsibilities and financial contributions of the parties, the activities and
deliverables to be financed, the eligible costs, implementation arrangements,
reporting obligations, internal control measures, audit rights and the treatment of any
unused amounts.
5. Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 shall apply to the fulfilment of the tasks entrusted to the
Office under this Article . The Competence Centre shall form part of the Office and
shall not have separate legal personality, fina ncial autonomy or decision -making
powers. All activities carried out through the Competence Centre shall remain
subject to the governance, programming, budgetary, accounting, internal control and
reporting framework applicable to the Office.
6. The set-up costs of the Competence Centre and the running costs arising from the
tasks entrusted to the Office by this Regulation shall be covered by its operational
budget. The set-up costs may include, at least, the costs related to the development of
the IT suppor t systems and the setting up of the corresponding administrative
infrastructure, as well as the time -limited preparation or setting up of new initiatives.
The Office’s Budget Committee may authorise the use of the accumulated budgetary
surplus of the Offic e for necessary, clearly defined, non -recurrent and time -limited
set-up costs.
7. The Executive Director of the Office may introduce charges for specific services
referred to in this Article provided to the entities referred to in paragraph 2 of this
Article in accordance with Article 178 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001. Such charges
shall be transparent, non -discriminatory and limited to the cost of the specific
service.
Access to the voluntary valuation framework developed in accordance with
paragraph 3, fi rst subparagraph, point (a), access to the digital match -making
platform developed in accordance with paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (b),
support services referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (d) provided to
public stakeholders, in cluding the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies,
and access to the Union-level helpdesk referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph,
point (i) shall not be subject to fees or charges.
Source: European Commission, proposal for a Regulation establishing the European Innovation Act, COM(2026) 567 final, 9 September 2026. Read the official proposal (PDF). Text may change during the legislative process.
Anthony Bochon’s analysis
This is, in my assessment, one of the most consequential provisions of the whole proposal, and it sits squarely in my field. Entrusting the EUIPO with a Competence Centre for intellectual property-backed finance is a deliberate attempt to close the persistent gap between the balance-sheet value of European intangibles and the willingness of banks and investors to lend against them. The core deliverables — a voluntary Union framework for the valuation and disclosure of IP assets, a digital match-making platform for licensing and transfer, support for a secondary market, and IP-backed financial instruments — address the real reason IP collateral is under-used in Europe: the absence of comparable, trusted valuation and disclosure standards. Anchoring the Centre in the EUIPO, under Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 and without separate legal personality, is a sensible institutional choice, because the Office already administers the registers and possesses the technical credibility that a valuation framework requires.
What I would watch most closely is the word voluntary. Valuation and disclosure standards deliver their network benefits only when the market actually adopts them, and the framework’s uptake will hinge on the implementing acts on content, comparability and interoperability, and on the intended interplay with the European Business Wallets. My reading is that the four-year delivery horizon, the fee-free access for public stakeholders and the helpdesk are designed to build that trust incrementally; the strategic risk is that if the framework is not recognised by prudential regulators and lenders, it remains an elegant taxonomy rather than a financing tool. For innovative firms, I would already be thinking about how to structure IP portfolios so they map cleanly onto the future disclosure arrangements.