Financing andcommercialisation ofcleantech innovationApril 2024EuropeanInvestment BankFINANCING AND COMMERCIALISATIONOF CLEANTECH INNOVATIONForewordThe global shift towards sustainability has brought the green transition to the forefront of the European agenda,withthe EU Green Deal leading the way.If Europe is to be climate-neutral by 2050,then our industries must be transformedin this process.Innovation in new,clea ner technologies is pivotal in this context to reshape Europe's economy andensure its sustained competitiveness,requiring ingenuity and investment.With this study,the European Investment Bank(EIB)and the European Patent Office (EPO)have teamed up to offer keyinsights into Europe's position in the global race for innovation in clean and sustainable technologies.This study focuseson companies that are commercialising novel patented technologies,thereby shedding light on the central players of theEuropean Union's cleantech ecosystems.It benchmarks them against their peers in other European countries and theUnited States,using the combined expertise ofthe ElB and the EPO to document their financing and patenting profilesPatent protection is key for companies that invest in innovation.As the patent office for Europe,the EPO provides highquality patents to protect innovation in up to 39 member states(including all 27 EU member states).It is at the forefrontof technological progress,classifying and publishing millions of patent documents in a wide range of fields.Importantly,patents benefit not only large multinational companies,but smaller firms and even university research.This reportclearly shows that they are critical assets for smaller cleantech companies to attract investors and raise funding(EPO-EUIPO,2023),with a view to commercialising new technology.In the European Union,innovative firms suffer from a lack of suitable finance,which limits companies'ability to grow.Cleantech innovators are not an exception.Underdeveloped capital markets are part of the explanation,with the EUfinancial sector being largely bank based.The European Investment Bank Group,comprising the European InvestmentBank(EIB)and the European Investment Fund (EIF),is at the forefront in terms of addressing this challenge.As the world'slargest multilateral financing institution,the ElB Group lent nearly EUR 88 billion around the world in 2023 alone,withmore than half of it going to climate action and ervironmental sustainability.The ElB Group supports a diverse spectrumof players,from startups to well-established corporations,through mechanisms ranging from loans and guarantees tobanks,direct financing and guarantees,seed capital,venture capital support,to strategic venture debt for small andmedium-sized enterprises(SMEs).With the aim of closing the scale-up financing gap,the ElB Group has launched theEuropean Tech Champions Initiative(ETCI),a fund of funds managed by the EIF,and the ElB Scale-Up Initiative(ESI),witha focus on qua si-equity products.The findings presented in this study confirm the relevance offocusing on European cleantech innovators as a coherentcohort.European firms that commercialise patented technology typically aim to scale up from their domestic marketto the EU single market.Since June 2023,they have been a ble to use the broad geographic protection offered by theUnitary Patent for that purpose.As European cleantech innovators clearly see their future in the EU market,awell-functioning single market and coherent regulation emerge as crucial assets to exploit the full potential oftheEuropean Union in cleantech innovation.Yann MeniereDebora RevoltellaChief Economist,EPOChief Economist,ElBTable of contents Executive summary Content Annex02