Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with Talks on Protecting and Exploiting Green Innovation at M-SParc

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day celebrates the coming into force of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO Convention").   It is celebrated throughout the world with talks, exhibitions and other events (see World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April 2013 11 April 2013 NIPC News).  Last year Wales contributed to the worldwide celebrations with a lunchtime seminar at M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) (see Celebrating World IP Day at M-SParc: Basic Tips for Startups and other Small Businesses 29 April 2019).

Every year the celebrations focus on a different theme.  This year's theme is Innovate for a Green Future (see World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2020: Innovate for a Green Future 2 March 2020).  Nothing could be more appropriate for Anglesey in view of the local authority's vision of Anglesey as an "energy island" harnessing its resources of wind power, tidal power and biomass (see the draft prospectus by Anglesey County Council and the Welsh Government for an Energy Island Enterprise Zone).

Although Anglesey, like the rest of Wales, has abundant natural resources and super talented entrepreneurs and innovators to take advantage of them, there is a worry that the county and country are not realizing their full potential.  Nesta (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) identified the problem with a recent report commissioned by Jen Rae and others entitled Is Wales Getting Innovation Right?  The report noted that "Wales is a nation ready for innovation" but not everyone enjoys the benefit.

Some of those reasons are social and structural but there are at least two initiatives that could help.  One is the Intellectual Property Office's Green Channel scheme by which applications for patents for environmentally friendly inventions can be processed expeditiously.   This scheme reduces significantly the delay in obtaining legal protection which enables inventions to be launched substantially more quickly with consequential improvements to cash flow.  Started in Newport in 2009, the scheme has been followed by the Chinese, American and several other patent offices.   The other initiative is WIPO Green, an online market place for green technology which should make it easier for Welsh entrepreneurs and innovators to fund and market their inventions.  So far only one British business has taken advantage of the scheme and that is a company in London.

We shall discuss both opportunities at this year's IP Day celebrations at M-SParc on 27 April 2020 between 14:00 to 15:00.   Admission to those discussions is free but it is essential to book in advance.  Click here to secure your place at the event.  If you have any questions, call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.