Conference highlights
Day one: Open innovation
Francis Gurry, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, will give the opening address, about open innovation as a key driver of sustainable growth.
At 11.00, a panel will consider new processes from value creations and crowdsourcing to advanced product development. Professor Dr Martin Curley of Intel Labs Europe, Laurent Gilbert of L’Oreal, Rix Groenboom from Parasoft and Andreas Zynne of Ninesigma will discuss this cutting-edge topic on a panel chaired by Frederik Van Oene of Arthur D Little.
Day two: IP in industry
A keynote address from UK IP minister Baroness Wilcox will cover the best ways to get rid of IP barriers in Europe.
At 11.10, three experts will take a look at urgent innovation in green technologies. Kai Branst of Audi, Nils Breidenstein of Invensys and Erik Müller from Vestas Wind Systems will tackle this topic, which will certainly be a key one for all kinds of businesses over the decades to come.
Day three: IP strategies
Richard Pelly of the European investment fund promises to give a fascinating keynote speech on the role of market infrastructures in financing knowledge transfers. Pelly should prove an expert speaker on a topic that few know enough about.
One of the key drivers of innovation, particularly in these difficult economic times, is collaboration. At 16.00, Luis Fernández-Novoa of law firm Hoyng Monegier will chair a panel looking at whether collaboration is changing the face of IP. Olivier Corticchiato of Nestle Nutrition, Monika Kavaliauske from Biocentras and Allen Norris of UCB Pharma will share their experiences and expertise.
Day four: IP in the BRICS countries
A stellar panel of patent office heads opens the day. David Kappos of the US Patent and Trademark Office will be joined by Tian Lipu of China’s State Intellectual Property Office, Benoît Battistelli from the European Patent Office and Jorge Ávila of Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property to discuss how to harmonise patent systems across the globe.
A 14.30 workshop will then look at whether IP should ever be ‘free’, in light of the importance of, for example, drugs and green technology to the security and health of the planet as a whole. Boris Azais, director of European Government Affairs, George Jones of Sunpower Corporation and Chris Verleye of Johnson & Johnson will consider this controversial topic.
