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| Satellite Image of Wales Author NSA, USA Copyright Public Domain Source Wikimedia |
Wales Week London is London's contribution to an annual worldwide festival of Wales. According to its website, it consists of 602 events at 110 venues in 22 countries with 66,000 attendees reaching 10.8 million people. In the rest of the UK, Wales Week events are taking place in Berkshire and Newcastle upon Tyne. Elsewhere there are events in Australia, Canada, France, Hungary, the Irish Republic, Japan, Thailand, the USA and even the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Although called "Wales Week" the festival's events in London stretch from a Festival of Welsh Music on 16 Feb 2024 to the St David's Day walk on 9 March 2024. They cover the arts, crafts, entertainment, food and sport as well as business, industry and tech.
There are 37 events in this last category which include diplomatic receptions at the Canadian High Commission and the Hungarian, Swiss and US embassies, a dinner at the Guildhall to celebrate St David's Day, discussions on artificial intelligence, biotech, energy, legal tech, manufacturing, net zero, sport, transport and receptions, exhibitions and other events to promote innovation and investment, Some of those events are invitation only but many are open to anybody and in most cases admission is free.
A curious omission given the Intellectual Property Office is headquartered in Wales and has an office in London is the absence of any event specifically on intellectual property. It will of course be central to many of the discussions. It would be hard to talk about branding without mentioning trade marks and passing off or to discuss inventions without referring to patents, design rights or trade secrecy.
All that may change for next year because |I am willing to organize one or more intellectual property events either alone or in conjunction with any other like-minded individuals or organizations to be held possibly at my chambers at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square or some other central London location. What I have in mind is a seminar on topics likely to be useful to entrepreneurs, inventors and business angels along the lines of the World IP Day and Wales Enterprise Day sessions that I help Emily Roberts to run at the Menai Science Park and maybe a walk-in IP clinic.
Holding events for Welsh Week is encouraged and an event organizer's toolkit can be downloaded from the Wales Week London website,
Anybody wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page,
