The registration period for the third edition of the EUIPO Trade Mark and Design Education Programme (ETMD EP) has been extended until 31 July 2020.
Apply soon, before the maximum number of 60 places are filled!
The ETMD EP is held annually and focuses on interaction between the EUIPO and IP practitioners in trade mark and design registration and prosecution. The programme is delivered by leading IP professionals, academics and EUIPO staff.
The programme will be held in English only and will run from September 2020 to June 2021, with approximately 150 hours of tuition, combining e-learning, webinars and two 3-day workshop sessions at the EUIPO in Alicante, Spain. It concludes with final examination consisting of both a written and an oral exam, the latter will take place at the EUIPO in Alicante, successful candidates will be awarded an EUIPO certificate.
For more information about the programme, provisional dates and the tuition fees, visit the programme’s website.
Germany: Promoting innovation and climate action in agriculture – EIB provides a €200 million loan to KWS SAAT
Funds to be used by German seed company for research and development
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a €200 million loan to KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA, a leading international seed producer based in Germany. KWS uses cutting-edge plant breeding and seed production methods to maximise yields and improve the resilience of plants to diseases, pests and abiotic stresses, such as extreme weather caused by climate change. It has one of the broadest seed portfolios in the industry, comprising 11 of the 13 most important crops, including maize, sugar beet, wheat, rye, rapeseed and vegetables.
The funds provided by the EU bank are to be used by KWS for research and development in the EU. Like KWS, the EIB hopes that these funds will make a valuable contribution to the objectives of the European Green Deal, and in particular the Farm to Fork strategy developed by the European Commission.
The EIB Vice-President responsible for innovation and for operations in Germany, Ambroise Fayolle, said: “Innovation in new seed varieties is vitally important if we want to ensure agricultural productivity under changing agro-climatic conditions. The only way we will be able to select plants that can withstand changing abiotic and biotic stresses and use nutrients and water from the soil more efficiently is through targeted research. The development of improved, not genetically modified varieties of agricultural crops helps reduce the use of pesticides and fertilisers and significantly contributes to sustainable agriculture. As the EU Climate Bank, we are strongly committed to finance mitigation, adaptation and many other relevant climate related projects. I therefore very much welcome this partnership with KWS to promote the production of new seed varieties for the European market.”
KWS’s CFO Eva Kienle added: “We are delighted with the European Investment Bank’s strong commitment to innovation and climate action in agriculture. A major joint effort is required to respond to the challenges of climate change and climate action in agriculture. As a leading plant breeding company, we invest around €200 million a year in research and development to provide farmers with continuously innovative seed varieties. The attractive conditions of the EIB loan will help us optimise our financing structure even further.”
KWS
KWS is a leading international plant breeding company. With over 5 500 employees across 70 countries, it recorded a turnover of €1.1 billion and achieved earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of €150 million in the 2018/2019 financial year. KWS is an independent family-owned business that was founded 160 years ago. Its core business is plant breeding and the production and sale of maize, sugar beet, wheat, vegetable and sunflower seeds and rapeseed. KWS uses cutting-edge plant breeding methods to maximise yields and improve the resilience of plants to diseases, pests and abiotic stresses. To help achieve this objective, it invested around €200 million in research and development in the last financial year.
As of 29 June 2020, the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has made its design data available to the DesignView search tool.
With IPONZ on board, DesignView now contains data from 72 participating offices.
With the addition of more than 51,000 industrial designs from IPONZ, DesignView provides information and access to more than 16.2 million designs in total.
Since the introduction of DesignView on 19 November 2012, the tool has served more than 5.6 million searches from 163 different countries, with the UK, Germany and China among the most frequent users.
The integration of IPONZ, which follows its integration in TMview, is a concrete result of the International Cooperation programme managed by the EUIPO in collaboration with its international partners. It follows the implementation of TMview.
Funds to German start-up Forto (formerly FreightHub) will support software development and market expansion
Financing by EU bank is provided under Investment Plan for Europe
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide financing of €20 million to Forto (FreightHub GmbH), a digital freight service and supply chain management provider headquartered in Berlin. Forto offers transport services for sea, air and rail freight, built on digitized processes and will invest the fresh funds into its supply chain management platform and further market expansion. Since its founding in 2016, Forto has tripled its business in sea, air and rail freight annually, establishing itself as one of the world’s leading tech platforms for logistics. The company works with more than 2,000 customers worldwide, who use Forto´s solutions to manage and optimize their global supply chains. Trough qualified and up‐to‐date data, Forto provides the basis and creates the transparency to simplify the entire process and to increase efficiency in logistics.
The loan of the EU bank is backed by a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe – the Juncker Plan. Under the Plan, the EIB and the European Commission are working together as strategic partners in order to boost the competitiveness of the European economy.
EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle, who is responsible for EFSI and operations in Germany, said: “Forto is a young and innovative company, and innovation is key to economic growth and employment. It drives prosperity and the EU’s competitiveness. I therefore very much welcome our cooperation with Forto. We have to make sure, in particular in the current difficult economic environment, that young European business have the means to develop further and are able to expand. This is a key priority for the EU bank, and this is also, what the Juncker Plan stands for.”
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy, said: “The European Commission is proud to support innovative European start-ups like Forto, which has developed a digital and sustainable platform to manage the complex logistics of sea, air and rail freight. Thanks to this financing agreement under the Investment Plan for Europe, Forto will be able to continue its rapid growth.”
Forto´s Managing Director and Co-Founder Michael Wax commented: “With the EIB, we found a strong innovation partner to invest into digitized supply chain solutions that simplify global trade. Although the CoVid19 crisis has pressure tested global trade, we recently doubled our business. The recent crisis has also shown that flexible but still reliable supply chains are vital to the European economy and beyond. Therefore, easy-to-use, efficient and sustainable digital logistic solutions are particularly important in the current environment. With the EIB funding, we expand our investments into our core supply chain technology.”
About Forto (formerly FreightHub)
Forto (formerly FreightHub) was founded in 2016 by Ferry Heilemann, Erik Muttersbach, Michael Wax and Dr. Fabian Heilemann in Berlin. Forto is a brand of FreightHub GmbH. The company develops groundbreaking, scalable, digital logistics technologies and services that go far beyond transporting goods from A to B. The easy-to-use and intuitive platform enables customers to optimize and control their entire global supply chain. With over 2,000 customers and nine international locations, Forto currently employs around 300 people. Forto is passionately committed to global trade and strives to increase global prosperity while promoting sustainability.
Gender Equality Index 2020: work in a digital world
It is time to start the countdown for the Gender Equality Index 2020. Has the EU gone forward or backward when it comes to gender equality? Which country will win the award for the most improved? Find out on 29 October when EIGE gives its annual update on the state of gender equality in the EU.
This year, the Gender Equality Index takes a special look at digitalisation in the world of work, and the consequences for gender equality. We will also highlight how digitalisation and the Covid-19 pandemic have affected women and men in their working lives.
We will shed light on less explored topics, such as the emergence of new types of jobs organised through online applications. These can include ride-hailing services, food delivery or household cleaners. Who is doing these jobs? Do they help or hinder gender equality?
The Index will also explore the effects of digitalisation for some groups that may face additional disadvantages, such as women with disabilities or women from migrant and ethnic backgrounds, when data is available.
As always, the highlight of the Index is the scoring for gender equality in the EU and all Member States. Each country gets a detailed analysis, showing their progress since 2010, achievements and areas for improvement.
Background information
The Gender Equality Index is an important policy-making tool to measure the progress of gender equality in the EU over time. Each year, it gives the EU and the Member States a score from 1 to 100. A score of 100 would mean that a country had reached full equality between women and men.
The scores are based on the gaps between women and men and levels of achievement in six core domains: work, money, knowledge, time, power and health, and their sub-domains. The Index also has two additional domains: violence against women and intersecting inequalities.
The Index gives visibility to areas that need improvement and supports policy makers to design more effective gender equality measures.
