On May 8, the Directorate-General of SME Policy, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office and the EOI Foundation, signed a collaboration agreement to establish an SME support center in the area of industrial rights management and vigilance and strategic intelligence.

The objective of the Center is to provide SME's and their associations information and personalized assistance on options that best adapt to their needs for protecting their industrial property, as well as the most efficient method for managing and making this property more profitable once the corresponding rights have been obtained and registered.

This Project, which aims at making the SME aware of the need to protect its inventions and designs, and thus increase its innovative capacity, falls within the framework of activities of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade in support of the Small and Mid-Sized Enterprise, and will begin to operate on July 1, 2009.

Tasks that will be carried out by the Virtual Support Center for the SME include:

•  Training and assessment to the Small and Mid-Sized Enterprise in the areas of Industrial Property rights management.

•  Information and training provided to the SME's and business associations in the area of Industrial Property and vigilance and strategic intelligence by means of organizing online tutorial courses.

•  Setting up workshops for making SME's aware of content related to Industrial Property management and vigilance and strategic intelligence, preferably through the online platform.

•  Informing and promoting support measures for SME's in material related to Industrial Property and vigilance and strategic intelligence, including local, regional, state and supranational subsidies.

•  Producing manuals and specific pamphlets for SME's, containing simple, accessible information and examples of best practice, which encourage the use and integration of Industrial Property and vigilance and strategic intelligence in its strategic business plans.

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