Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor said forthcoming legislation on a Europeanpatentsystem, and on further cuts to mobile roaming charges could go some way to boosting the economy.
An additional concern is that Congress in recent years has completely restructured the U.S. patentsystem to harmonize it with European and Japanese practice.
Overall, according to the European Commission, the lack of a unified patentsystem is one reason why Europe's small and medium-sized technology firms fail to grow as quickly as those in America, Asia and elsewhere.