IP as collateral: Brussels' proposed European Innovation Act makes the case for the Austrian movable pledge register (Mobiliarpfandregister)

The European Innovation Act, proposed in September 2026 by the European Commission (COM(2026) 567), aims to narrow this gap. Its two main pillars tackle different sides of commercialisation: a harmonised framework for research-and-development procurement to stimulate demand for innovation and an EU-wide IP valuation framework and marketplace to help companies finance and commercialise their inventions, particularly in deep-tech and breakthrough sectors. The proposal is a key action under the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy and part of Europe's overall effort to turn scientific strength into industrial competitiveness, thereby strengthening the Single Market. For Austria, the initiative is a further compelling argument for the long-awaited introduction of the movable pledge register (Mobiliarpfandregister) and for extending its scope to IP.

Brussels is working on the pricing of IP, while enforceable security remains a matter of national law. For Austrian businesses to benefit from the EU's efforts, Austria requires a modern register for movable collateral, including IP.

The European Innovation Act

The proposal would expand the role of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), helping make IP not merely protected, but also bankable. Articles 32–36 envisage five building blocks, each targeting a specific obstacle to IP-backed lending: 

• A competence centre within the EUIPO to pool expertise on IP valuation and financing, giving market participants – particularly smaller banks and SME borrowers without in-house IP specialists – a central point of reference.
• A voluntary valuation framework to promote common methodologies, so that valuations prepared for different borrowers, assets or jurisdictions become more comparable and easier for credit committees to rely on.
• Better evidence on IP-backed transactions to build the track record lenders currently lack when assessing default risk, loan-to-value ratios and recovery prospects. 
• A platform connecting IP owners with potential buyers and licensees to help address the thin resale market: for a lender, collateral is only as valuable as the realistic prospect of selling or licensing it after a default. 
• A voluntary certification scheme and a public database of certified valuers to build confidence in the professionals assessing these assets. 

Certification would give credit committees an objective benchmark for accepting a valuer, and the database would let lenders verify credentials quickly, potentially avoiding duplicate valuations and lowering transaction costs. The Commission's ambition is substantial: the impact assessment estimates around EUR 2.7 – 10.2bln of additional IP-backed financing annually.

Better valuations, however, solve only half the lender's problem. A credible price is little comfort without enforceable security and a realistic route to recovery. National differences in creating, registering and enforcing IP security therefore remain central to any transaction. Registered patents, trademarks and design rights can already be given as security rather straightforwardly, with security recorded in the respective registers. Other intangible assets, such as copyright in software and trade secrets, remain subject to diverging national regimes, while a single financing often spans several of them.

Article 33 acknowledges the missing infrastructure. The EUIPO would collect voluntarily supplied, non-personal transaction data, including valuation and loan-to-value information, and could investigate the feasibility of an EU-wide IP pledge register. Regulatory capital is a further constraint. As IP is generally not recognised as eligible collateral under the EU banking prudential rules, banks receive little or no capital relief for it, which limits how far better valuations alone will change lending appetite. For lenders and borrowers, the near-term prospect is therefore better infrastructure for IP-backed deals rather than a fundamental change in how they are secured. This puts the onus on national legislators to close the security gap.

Position in Austria

Austria can go a long way towards closing that gap through its planned movable pledge register (Mobiliarpfandregister), delivering at national level the type of security infrastructure that Brussels, for now, intends only to examine at EU level. Waiting for Brussels is no alternative: any EU-wide IP pledge register is, at best, years away and would be limited to IP, whereas Austrian businesses require a register for all movable collateral. A national register designed to work alongside any future EU solution would serve both purposes.

Announced in the government programme 2025-2029, the register would enable businesses to borrow against assets previously not readily available as collateral, while giving lenders clearer visibility of existing security and competing claims and reducing transaction costs. Currently, due to the strict possessory rules, security over movable assets is a difficult exercise and hence rarely used in Austria. As a general rule, the borrower must transfer possession of the pledged asset to the lender by physically delivering the asset (Faustpfandprinzip). For assets such as machinery or inventory, this would mean removing them from business operations. Alternatively, the borrower may instruct the independent third-party possessor of the asset to hold it for the lender. In certain cases, the pledge can be perfected by signs. All these methods are cumbersome and not preferred in practice by borrowers or lenders, which significantly reduces the collateral base available for borrowing.

For IP financing, the register's value will depend on its scope. Registered Austrian IP rights such as patents and trademarks can already be pledged by entry in the Austrian Patent Office's registers, so the real gain would lie in covering unregistered assets such as software and know-how. The register should therefore expressly include IP assets from the outset. Combined with the EU's valuation framework, certified valuers and marketplace, such a register would give Austrian lenders both a credible price and enforceable collateral, positioning Austria as a front-runner for IP-backed lending in Europe. Both initiatives share the same economic logic: European businesses should be able to put their assets, tangible and intangible alike, to work as collateral to finance their next stages of growth. The EU initiative will only deliver its full benefit in Austria if that logic is matched by a modern register for movable collateral.

Next steps

Neither framework has been finalised. On 5 October 2026, the European Parliament referred the proposed European Innovation Act to its committees on industry, internal-market and legal affairs for joint consideration, while the Council of the EU is also set to examine the proposal. In Austria, the planned movable pledge register enjoys strong industry backing, but its scope and design remain under debate, and no draft is yet available. The momentum in Brussels is a timely opportunity for the Austrian legislator to move from announcement to draft legislation and to include IP within the register's scope.

What this means now

Lenders and borrowers need not wait for legislation to act. Borrowers can prepare by auditing their IP portfolios, confirming chain of title and keeping registrations and renewals current. Lenders can start integrating IP-backed lending into their credit processes today by developing internal criteria for eligible IP assets and applicable advance rates, embedding IP-specific due diligence and information covenants into their loan documentation, and testing structures such as IP holding companies with licence-back arrangements that provider a clearer route to enforcement. Those that engage early will be better placed to shape the framework and to compete for this new business once it applies. Brussels has set the direction; it is now up to Austria to establish the register and ensure that it covers IP.

Author: Viktoria Carranza-Berg

IP Contact: Christian Schumacher