EGNI2020 - Just the Sort of Technologies that might benefit from WIPO Green and the Green Channel

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Jane Lambert

On 27 April 2020, the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) celebrated World Intellectual Property Day 2020 with a webinar on green innovation. We focused on two aspects of that theme: the online market place for green technologies operated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (the UN agency for intellectual property) known as WIPO Green and the accelerated procedure for examining applications for environmentally friendly inventions known as the green channel. Just over two weeks later M-SParc presented another webinar entitled Egni2020 that discussed recent developments in the energy sector.  That webinar dovetailed perfectly with ours because the technologies that were discussed in EGNI2020 were exactly the sort that we had in mind when we talked about green innovation on World IP Day.

I had already introduced the WIPO Green online market in Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with Talks on Protecting and Exploiting Green Innovation at M-SParc 5 March 2020 and I gave more details in World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2020: Innovate for a Green Future on 2 March 2020 in NIPC News.  I also mentioned it in my chairperson's presentation at the World IP Day webinar.  Amy Dietterich, Director, Global Challenges Division of the WIPO has published a comprehensive article on the topic in the March 2020 edition of the WIPO Magazine entitled WIPO GREEN: supporting green innovation and technology transfer.

WIPO Green offers unparalleled opportunities for investment, joint ventures, licensing and marketing throughout the world and inclusion in the database which Ms Dietterich describes as the backbone of the WIPO Green platform is absolutely free.  It could have been tailor-made for businesses in Wales and other parts of the UK yet no Welsh companies and only one British company has taken advantage of the resource.  I am not sure why that is the case but my guess is that most accountants, bankers, business advisors, consultants and other professionals are unaware of it.

The EGNI2020 webinar included short presentations from:

• Henry Aron of the magnificently named North Wales Economic Ambition Board on the North Wales Growth Deal which is spelt out in A Growth Deal for North Wales
• Mel Davies of Partneriaeth Ogwen on community energy;
• Marcus Dahlfors of the Nuclear Futures Institute of Bangor University on nuclear thermal hydraulics; 
• Rebecca Colley-Jones of Ynys Resources on making sustainable change; 
• Paul Carter of Innogy on offshore wind opportunities; and 
• Guto Owen of the Wales Hydrogen Trade Association on the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell passenger train service,

It seems likely that inventions for harnessing the wind, waves and tides, decommissioning nuclear reactors and sites and hydrogen fuel cell propulsion would qualify for the Intellectual Property Office's green channel and similar schemes offered by other patent offices.  Anyone working in those technologies who requires initial advice on patentability, searching or sn introduction to a patent attorney is welcome to contact at any time me using the Initial Advice and Signposting form at the end of Online Support for Businesses in Wales.   No fees will be charged for using that service.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any of the topics mentioned in it contact me through my message page. I am happy too reply by phone, email or Zoom.