This dissertation was written as part of the LLM in Transnational and European
Commercial Law, Banking Law, Arbitration/Mediation, at the International Hellenic
University.
Innovation has become a buzzword of EU policy in the last decade. The prevalence of
this term is even more intense in EU competition law, where innovation-related
literature is at its spike. There is, however, one aspect of the relation between
innovation and competition that remains rather underexplored by literature and
policy. That is competition concerns raised in mergers between an incumbent and an
innovative start-up, which merger will not have an immediate effect on the relevant
market structure.
This thesis finds that the current EU merger control model is incapable of drawing such
mergers under its scope, due to its static nature and its indirect assessment of
innovation concerns. This way, a significant amount of concentrations potent of
causing impediments to effective competition remain uncontrolled. This thesis also
proposes the introduction of a dynamic contemplation of innovation-based mergers,
which would allow the assessment of their long-term effects on innovation, and the
activation of respective remedies.
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