The European Patent Office (EPO) has published a study addressing the role played by Europe’s patent system in promoting technology transfer in the European Single Market. It shows that the fragmented nature of the system imposes limitations on trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), preventing the realisation of the economic benefits which could be expected from a more harmonised system, i.e. unitary patent. Among other, the study highlights that compared with other industries, IP-intensive industries such as analytical instruments, biopharmaceuticals, chemicals, ICT, medical devices and production technologies make a greater contribution to outgoing than to incoming or intra-EU trade and FDI flows.
Source: http://www.epo.org/