The Pilot Project on Skills Building of Young Designers on IP Protection and Management in Brazil and Chile

October 31, 2023

We held face-to-face final seminars of the project in Santiago, Chile on August 11, 2023, and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 26, 2023. The project was supported by Funds-In-Trust Japan Industrial Property Global.

The objective of the pilot project is to enhance skills and knowledge among young designers in Brazil and in Chile on the protection and management of IP, through the development of industrial design and/or other IP solutions for producers’ groups to incorporate IP-centered strategies in the outcome of their creations.

This project aims at building skills through a problem-solving approach among pilot groups of young designers in Brazil and in Chile and, at the same time, it aims at tackling challenges faced by associations of producers of national geographical indications (GIs) and/or collective trademarks (CMs) in terms of packaging, which may be deterring them from having a stronger presence in the market.

In this sense, the project will bring together the community of young designers and associations of producers of GIs and/or CMs to work on packaging design.

About the final seminars

Following the capacity building phases including mentoring for those designers and prototyping of the packaging designs, the final seminars were held in Chile with 50 participants and in Brazil with 60 participants. The main purposes of implementation of those face-to-face seminars were to provide an invaluable opportunity for young designers: (i) to share their experiences in developing packaging solutions for the origin-based products; (ii) to interact with the selected producers of such products; and (iii) to learn from IP experts joining from WIPO, Brazil and Chile. The recorded video presentations on best practice of strategic use of designs created by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) was also delivered in the seminars.

Also, such prototypes of packaging designs proposed by young designers will help the producers to consider their own packaging of products they sell.

In Brazil, the producers of five Brazilian GI associations - cold cuts from Venda Nova do Imigrante, lace from Divina Pastora, guaraná from Maués, coffee from Matas de Minas and saffron from Mara Rosa - are benefited from the project.

In Chile, the producers of olives from Azapa, lemon from Pica, candies from Ligua, Prosicutto from Capitan Pastene, sparkling wine from Punucapa, candies from Curacavi and honey from Altos Cantillana, are beneffited from the project.

Such an in-person interaction would facilitate lively discussions on the benefits that the packaging solutions may bring to support the commercialization of their products, and the key role that IP plays for protecting creations.