INTERVIEW WITH JEAN-PHILIPPE COURTOIS, PRESIDENT OF MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL : EUROPE LACKS THE RIGHT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENVIRONMENT.

Innovation is a great weapon against climate change, the President of Microsoft International, Jean-Philippe Courtois, told Europolitics at the European Business Summit in Brussels. But the EU first needs to change its patent rules, he thinks.

Do you agree that climate change is a chance of a lifetime for European companies?

I believe that climate change offers a unique opportunity for businesses, NGOs and governments to work together in achieving three things: competitiveness, innovation and, what I would call from the companies' perspective, responsible leadership. As a global company, we think about three contributions: firstly, how can we reduce our own emissions and carbon footprint. Secondly, it is about innovation. This company makes software, and we believe that software can provide a lot of innovation, when it comes not only to devices, but also to energy management systems, future grids, data centres. And, thirdly, it is partnerships and bringing together companies, universities and governments. Overall, climate change is a unique opportunity for Europe to make a breakthrough.

With regard to innovation, European companies own about half of patents related to renewable energy or clean cars, but they clearly lag behind in overall innovation scoreboards behind the United States and Japan. What is the problem?

There are two things to consider. Europe has generally been a strong supporter of innovation, patents and intellectual property for entrepreneurship. That is at the core of the Lisbon Agenda, and Europe has tried to push in this direction for a number of years. But if you look at where Europe actually is, and compare it to other parts of the world like Japan, China or India, the picture is not so bright. I clearly see much more activity, diligence in creating the right intellectual property environment for innovation.

It could also encourage the creation of clusters of innovation. We have been pushing that idea for some time because if you can bring together some of the best universities in Europe, researchers, European or global businesses or venture capital, you can accelerate invention, design of products and services and their introduction to the market. And that's the name of the game.

Why does Europe not have the right intellectual property environment?

There has been a lot of debate about the new European Patent System in the last years, but has Europe moved fast enough? I do not think so. Do we have a harmonised system...