WIPO to Host International Symposium on Intellectual Property Education and Research

Geneva, April 25, 2005
Media Alerts MA/2005/19

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host an international symposium on intellectual property (IP) education and research on June 30 and July 1, 2005. The event will bring together academics, education policy makers, and business managers responsible for company IP education, as well as IP professionals, students, and representatives of national, regional and international organizations who are interested in the area of IP education and research. The main focus of the symposium will be to explore ways to better integrate IP into education and research programs.

In today's knowledge-based economy the building blocks of successful commercial institutions and thriving economies are the products of the mind: innovation, creativity, invention, ideas, and knowledge. Creativity is a powerful resource that can be harnessed by any country seeking to develop and strengthen its economy. As the ability to innovate and create and to generate ideas is inherent in each one of us, these are resources that every country possesses and it is the intellectual property (IP) system that gives them value, allowing them to be transformed into viable, tradable assets.

While there is increasing awareness of the potential of IP to promote economic, social and cultural development, much needs to be done to foster partnerships and improve international cooperation among academic institutions to promote the full integration of IP into teaching curricula. This is of particular importance given the cross-cutting nature of IP and the need for an interdisciplinary approach to IP education and IP research. The students of today are the decision-makers of tomorrow and for this reason alone, it is important to find ways to provide IP educators with appropriate and effective mechanisms to boost understanding of IP and ensure that its application mirrors the specific IP needs of individual countries.

Emerging challenges of different countries require nationally focused and tailor-made solutions and IP education has a major role to play in ensuring the integration of effective IP strategies into the overall national policy framework.

The symposium will look at ways of improving international cooperation to face some of the emerging challenges by identifying coherent approaches and common opportunities, such as how a multidisciplinary approach could be reflected in the IP curriculum of universities and how universities could overcome the scarcity of IP lecturers by enhanced international cooperation and of greater employment of "virtual" professors to service distance learning courses via the Internet. On-going efforts can be greatly enhanced, where appropriate, to strengthen and expand partnerships and strategic cooperation among academic institutions. The cooperation between academic institutions and the different stakeholders (e.g., private enterprise and government agencies) will also have to be developed and expanded since there is a growing need for an interdisciplinary approach to IP research capacity.

The symposium will provide an opportunity for many of the major players in these two areas to assess the current situation, identify the challenges ahead, explore the various possibilities for enhancing international cooperation, and suggest appropriate actions to the international community for further development of IP education and IP research.

The meeting is open to all interested persons (but limited to 250 persons on a first come basis online registration is recommended at the Worldwide Academy web site https://www.wipo.int/academy/en/meetings/iped_sym_05/ and will be held at WIPO headquarters, 34, chemin des Colombettes, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. It will run from 9 a.m. to 5.15 p.m. on June 30 and 9.30 a.m. to 4.45 p.m. on July 1, 2005. The Symposium will be conducted in English, French and Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation to and from each of those languages.

For more information, please contact:

WIPO Worldwide Academy

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
34, chemin des Colombettes

1211 Geneva 20

Switzerland

Tel: (41-22) 338

Fax: (41-22) 740 14 17

Email: meetings.academy@wipo.int