Explore 29/05/2026

Strengthening Resilient and Impact-driven Innovation Ecosystems

European IP Helpdesk "Bulletin" explores the role of intellectual assets management in complex multi-actor innovation settings

The European Intellectual Property (IP) Helpdesk, a flagship initiative of the European Commission to support capacity building around IP management, recently published its latest Bulletin edition, “Managing Intellectual Assets in Innovation Ecosystems”, which explores the growing role of intellectual assets in shaping collaborative innovation ecosystems and supporting effective knowledge valorisation. It brings together different perspectives on how intellectual asset management can strengthen resilient and impact-driven innovation ecosystems.

As innovation increasingly depends on collaboration between universities, companies, start-ups, public authorities and intermediaries, intellectual assets play a central role in enabling knowledge to circulate and create value. These assets go far beyond patents and include data, software, know-how, standards, methodologies, prototypes and governance arrangements.

The Bulletin highlights that strategic management of assets such as patents, data, know-how and standards is essential for enabling collaboration, scaling innovation and generating societal and economic value. In collaborative R&I settings, this means organising access, use, protection and sharing in ways that help coordinate relationships, reduce uncertainty and support long-term impact.

This perspective is particularly relevant for complex multi-actor ecosystems, where results are rarely created by one organisation alone. Clear approaches to knowledge, data, confidentiality, ownership and access help create the trust and structure needed for partners with different expectations to work together effectively.

For Future8, the Bulletin points to an important message for Europe’s R&I future: intellectual asset management should be embedded in collaborative project and ecosystem design from the start. Treating it as a strategic capability can help ensure that jointly created knowledge translates into economic and societal value.

Read the European IP Helpdesk Bulletin: Managing Intellectual Assets in Innovation Ecosystems

About the European IP Helpdesk

The European IP Helpdesk is a first-line IP support service of the European Commission. It provides free intellectual property support to European SMEs, start-ups, universities, research organisations and beneficiaries of EU-funded research and innovation projects, helping them manage IP and strengthen knowledge valorisation within the European innovation ecosystem. The European IP Helpdesk is coordinated by EURICE, which has been a driver of the initiative for 15 years. EURICE and Future8 are both part of the EURICE Group. The initiative is part of the Group’s growing innovation ecosystem focused on Valorisation Practices, connecting initiatives and actors that support knowledge valorisation, intellectual asset management and the translation of research into impact across Europe. Find out more: https://eurice.eu/innovation-ecosystems/valorisation-practices