M-SParc Joins PatLib Network

Standard YouTube Licence

Jane Lambert

PatLib is an international network of patent information centres linked to the European Patent Office ("EPO"). According to the EPO, there are over 300 of them spread across the countries that are party to the European Patent Convention ("EPC"), including the United Kingdom. There is a directory of patent information centres on the EPO website, starting with the Albanian General Directorate of Industrial Property in Tirana and ending with the Worcestershire Business and IP Centre at The Hive in Worcester. There are now 25 patent information centres in the United Kingdom, and the Intellectual Property Office publishes a helpful list of them.

The list was updated yesterday to add the North Wales Patent Library Centre at the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc").  Now, anybody who has ever visited M-SParc will be surprised to hear it described as a library because there are not a lot of books on display.   The EPO PatLib page explains:

"They are often referred to as "PATLIB centres", standing for PATent LIBrary. However, not all PATLIB centres are actually libraries."

It is worth adding that most of the resources are now online.  They include the EPO's esp@cenet and the IPO's patent search services.

I first wrote about the PatLib network in PatLib Libraries in the UK on 29 Jan 2015 in NIPC Inventors' Club.  In that article, I wrote:

"The Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield central libraries are linked to the British Library in a national network of Business and IP Centres. This network is sponsored by the Arts Council of England, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Intellectual Property Office."

The first Business and IP Centre was a specialist reading room of the British Library which opened in 2006 (see "Celebrating 20 Years" on the British Library website).   The first Centre outside London was in Newcastle which I discussed in NIPC Inventors' Club in BIPC Newcastle on 21 Jan 2012.  These were joined by other big city central libraries in 2013 (see Enterprise and Libraries: a New National Network of Business & IP Support 6 March 2013, NIPC Inventors' Club).

I mentioned the Business and IP Centres and how they could help businesses in Northwest Wales in Whom you gonna call? IP Professionals and what they do on 2 April 2019 in NIPC Cymru:

"A network of public libraries has teamed up with the British Library's Business and IP Service to provide free access to databases, market research, journals, directories, articles and reports for entrepreneurs and small business owners. There is a programme of free and low-cost events and workshops on a range of topics including business planning, marketing and intellectual property at each of the libraries. The nearest Business and IP Centre for North Wales is at Liverpool. There is also a Business and IP Centre in Birmingham."

M-Sparc's accession to the PatLib network was celebrated with speeches and a panel discussion by Pryderi ap Rhisiart, Nia Roberts, Sue Lawson, Pierre Oliviere, Edward Jones and  Emma Richards, followed by a buffet lunch (see Iwan Pitts, M-Sparc launches North Wales Patent Library 4 June 2026, M-Sparc website).

One of the questions to the panel was "Who owns an invention made by an AI system?"  That was an excellent question and one which has perplexed intellectual property offices and judges around the world.  The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled in Thaler v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks [2023] UKSC 49 (20 Dec 2023) that only a natural person can apply for a patent for an invention (see The Supreme Court's Judgment in DABUS 25 Dec 2023).  Most courts and patent offices around the world have reached similar decisions.

The services promised by the North Wales Patent Library are as follows:

• "information on IP including EPO resources and copies of IPO literature
• 1:1 appointment with IP advisor (appointment only)
• referrals to a patent or trade mark attorney for a 1:1 (30 min appointment only)
• referrals to other advice/service providers
• IP workshops and webinars"

This is all very promising, but in my experience of working with the Business and IP Centres in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield over the years, the most valuable contribution of those centres is that they catalyse other activities.  To start the ball rolling, I have helped Emily Roberts and her successor, Gwenllian Owen, set up and run events to celebrate World IP Day and Wales Enterprise Day and other events.  I offer Initial Advice and Signposting Clinics, and I have set up EDGC/NWIP, a support group for M-SParc and the North Wales PatLib centre on LinkedIn.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.

Wales Enterprise Day 2025

Market Day 1910

Author Sydney Curnow Vosper  Licence Public Domain Source Wikimedia

 

Jane Lambert

As this year's Wales Enterprise Day coincided with the WIPO's Global Celebration of IP Examiners, M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) decided to celebrate both days with a lunchtime seminar on working with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office ("IPO") and the World Intellectual Property Office ("WIPO").  The seminar was chaired by Nia Roberts and organized by Gwenllian Owen.  I was one of the speakers.  The others were Joe Foote, Sean Thomas and Robin Rhys Jones.

Joe is a partner of HarriFoote IP.  He spoke to us about trade marks.   He is also a New Zealander and he explained to a predominantly Welsh audience what is meant by word, figurative and text and figurative marks by reference to the registrations held by his nation's rugby team, the "All Blacks".  He discussed the trade mark application process from taking a client's instructions, searching for prior registrations and prior rights, drafting a specification and lodging it with the Registry.  He outlined some of the possible obstacles, such as objections from examiners under s.3 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 or oppositions by third parties under s.5.  Lastly, he explained how he uses the Madrid Protocol to apply for registrations outside the UK.  The Madrid Protocol is one of the treaties administered by WIPO.

Sean spoke next about patents.  He explained their advantages over other intellectual property rights.   He discussed the conditions for the grant of a patent and outlined the application procedure from taking a client's instructions to receiving the certificate of grant.  He warned of possible objections to the application from examiners and third parties before grant and revocation proceedings afterwards.   Finally, he discussed applications for patents in other countries through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which is another international agreement administered by the WIPO.

Until recently, Robin Rhys Jones had worked for the IPO as a patent examiner.  He mentioned the educational qualifications to become a patent attorney and various highlights from his career as an examiner.   He explained how an examiner would analyse an application to understand the invention and described the reporting and searching processes if he believed the invention to be patentable.  He delivered a large portion of his contribution in Welsh.  After his talk, I asked him whether he had any tips for patent applicants or their agents.  He replied that they should avoid filing specifications with a multiplicity of overlapping and unnecessary claims.

I told the audience that as a barrister, I do not prosecute patent, trade mark or registered design applications.  I advise patent and trade mark attorneys on difficult points of law, draft complex legal instruments and appear as an advocate in proceedings before hearing officers appointed by the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks who is known as "the Comptroller" in patent and unregistered design cases and "the Registrar" in trade mark and registered design cases.  

I said that hearing officers hear disputes between examiners and applicants for patents or trade marks known as "ex parte" proceedings and also disputes between businesses and individuals, known as "inter partes" disputes.  Some inter partes disputes arise before grant, such as "entitlement disputes" in patents or oppositions in trade marks.  Others take place after grant, such as applications for the revocation and declarations of non-infringement for patents, applications for declarations of invalidity and revocation of trade marks, cancellation of design registrations and settlement of the terms of unregistered designs.  I pointed out that costs in proceedings before hearing officers are on a fixed scale and much cheaper than litigation in the civil courts. 

I also mentioned two other important dispute resolution services that are provided by the IPO.  Examiners offer non-binding opinions on whether a patent is valid ot whether it has been infringed for just £200, which is a fraction of the costs of opinions from patent counsel or senior solicitors or patent attorneys on such matters. Examiners usually have the advantage of representations and evidence from both sides, which a lawyer may not.  The other useful dispute resolution service offered by the IPO is online or in-person mediation at its offices in Newport or elsewhere by agreement.  The service is provided by CEDR trained patent attorneys at a fraction of the cost of many competing services.

I pointed out that the WIPO provides an even wider range of IP dispute resolution services.  In addition to mediation, it offers arbitration, expedited arbitration and expert determination on modest fixed fees.   It is also the leading domain name dispute resolution service provider for most generic and many country code domain name disputes, including those in the ".cymru" and ".wales" domains (see Jane Lambert Welsh Top Level Domain Names, 12 April 2019).  I should add that I am on WIPO's panel of neutrals, which includes arbitrators and mediators as well as domain name dispute resolution panellists.

The discussion on dispute resolution prompted Nia to remark that entrepreneurs often shy away from seeking or enforcing legal protection for their brands, designs, technology or creativity because they believe that the cost of IP advice is prohibitive.  She pointed to the information on the IPO website.  Emma Richards, who had been in the online audience, suggested the IPO's training courses.  Other useful websites include the WIPO, the European Patent Office, Google Patent, the British Library's and many other sites, including this one.   I suggested that the links should be consolidated on an M-SParc or other portal. 

M-SParc is an important resource in its own right, and its next event that I will attend is Den Y Dreigiau pitching event in conjunction with Global Welsh on 27 Nov 2025 at 18:00.  The catering will be provided by the leading chef, Gita Mitry, winner of BBC TV's Eating with the Enemy. guest chex Aux Armes de France and many other great eateries, food blogger and commentator.  Yesterday I learned about the meat from a new breed of sheep that has been introduced to the United Kingdom on Anglesey. I also met the manager of the restaurant who will host the event.  This promises to be a very popular event.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page.

Best World IP Day Ever

Standard YouTube Licence

Jane Lambert

I have had the honour of chairing the Menai Science Park's World Intellectual Property Day celebrations ever since 2019.  These take the form of an in-person and online seminar.  The science park held the first of these seminars just a few weeks after its first anniversary. It continued to celebrate them even during the pandemic.  Every year's celebrations have been bigger and better than the year before. This year's was the biggest and best ever.

Because 26 April fell on a Saturday this year, we held our seminar on Tuesday, 29 April.  The theme of this year's celebrations was IP and music: Feel the beat of IP. There could not have been a better one because music is an art form for which Wales is renowned in every genre and at every level.  

Our first contributor was the Welsh composer, Jack White. Jack had first come to my notice as the composer of the scores for Ballet Cymru's Cinderella and Stuck in the Mud, but his repertoire is much broader than that.  In an abridged recording of my interview with Jack, we discussed his latest work, which is arranging Luck Be A Lady, Waterloo and other songs for choirs.   That led us to When Voices Rise, Jack's prize-winning work for the 40th anniversary celebrations of Manchester Chorale, filmed in St Ann's Church, Manchester, which is my favourite of Jack's works.

Emma Richards, Regional Policy Advisor at the Intellectual Property Office, presented an overview of the legal protection of creativity, enterprise and innovation in the United Kingdom.  She discussed the rights that have to be registered with the Intellectual Property Office, such as patents, trade marks and registered designs and those that come into being automatically when certain conditions are met, such as copyrights and rights in performances.  Copyrights protect the works of composers, songwriters, broadcasters, film makers, recording studios and publishers, while rights in performances protect singers, musicians and other performers from unauthorized filming, taping and broadcasting.

Next came Steffan Thomas of Bangor University Business School.  He had carried out research on the digital distribution of music for small and medium enterprises in niche markets for his doctorate.   He continues to teach and carry out research into digital marketing as Director of Teaching and Learning and Senior Lecturer.  His presentation focused on music copyright in niche, minority language markets.  He discussed the economics of digital distribution of music, which generates surprisingly little for the artists.  

When he was still an undergraduate at Bangor University in the 1970s, Dafydd Roberts was the harpist and flautist in the band Ar Log.  He is still performing in that band now.  However, he has also worked as a director and producer with the BBC before going freelance and establishing his own TV production company.  He was later Chief Executive of Sain Records, chaired the Welsh Music Foundation Board and the Canolfan Gerdd William Matthias and served on the board of Cerdd Cymru. He remains on the board of Eos, the Broadcasting Rights Agency and other bodies and now works as a freelance creative agent, producer and copyright consultant.   By sharing his insight into the music industry as a broadcaster, composer, performer, publisher and recording studio executive, Dafydd supplemented Steffan's presentation on the economics of music distribution and laid a foundation for John Hywel Morris's on collecting societies.

Hywel had also been a composer and musician in Wales and London before joining the PRS for Music. He is now Senior Writer & Publisher Relations Manager, Wales at PRS for Music.  In that role, he acquired considerable knowledge and experience of copyright licensing.  He initiated the first joint licensing of the PRS for Music and PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) repertoire.   Hywel discussed the role of collecting societies in Wales and dealings with the English and Welsh medium radio and TV broadcasters.

Liam Kurmos advises clients of Busnes Cymru on artificial intelligence and founder of Astralship.  His talk was entitled Copyright in the Age of Copy-Paste AI but he covered all the legal and business issues that have arisen in this country.  He considered the potential benefits of adopting the technology but acknowledged the practical difficulties of doing so.

Steffan,  Dafydd and Hywel gave their presentations in Welsh while Emma and Liam delivered theirs in English.  This was the first seminar that I had chaired when Welsh was used more than English.   In the Q and A that followed the formal presentations, the panels discussed ways of increasing artists' revenues at a time when most music is distributed digitally.  Live performances before a paying audience and marketing merchandise seemed to be the practical answers.

Credit for the success of this event goes to Gwenllian Owen.  I interviewed Jack White and introduced the speakers, but she did all the rest.   In particular, she identified five excellent speakers from the Welsh music industry and marshalled them in the most effective running order.   I must also thank Iwan Pitts for editing my interview with Jack White and preparing an abridging it for the seminar.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article is welcome to call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

Gwynedd Innovation Conference

Lake Bala

Author Necrothesp Licence CC BY-SA 3.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

Yesterday's Gwynedd Innovation Conference took place at the Gwersyll Yr Urdd Glan-llyn on the banks of Lake Bala (Llyn Tegid), one of the loveliest parts of Wales.  Lakeside communities are rare in the United Kingdom.  I can think of Windermere and Ambleside in England, Pitlochry and Drumnadrochit in Scotland and Enniskillen in Northern Ireland.  They are all special places with an Alpine feel.  Bala is, however, unique because it abuts the largest lake in Wales and some would say the most beautiful.

Gwynedd is a massive county in Northwest Wales which occupies much of the territory of the medieval kingdom of Gwynedd.  The county has excellent secondary schools and a leading research university which have trained a disproportionate number of highly skilled men and women who have pursued glittering careers in business, government, academia, the arts and the learned professions in every part of the world except their own.   With such initiatives as the opening of the Menai Science Park and the Pontio Centre opportunities are opening for the movers and shakers of the region. Moreover, talented folk from outside are making their homes and settling up businesses there.

Yesterday's conference celebrated those developments.  We heard from Jonny Charlton who developed a light carbon tandem that is attracting worldwide attention, filmmaker Asa Bailey whose work has gone viral on YouTube and an executive from Ifor Williams Trailers Ltd., a Corwen company whose products are distributed around the world.  We also heard from representatives of the organizations that have assisted them such as Richard Fraser-Williams of Business Wales, Stella Peace of InnovateUK and others from Gwynedd Council, the Development Bank of Wales, the Welsh Government and Bangor University,

The event was initiated by the Menai Science Park.  It was chaired by the science park's managing director Pryderi ap Rhisiart and we heard from his colleagues Gwenllian Owen, Sion Wynne and Tom Burke,  Tom delivered presentations on tourism technology and agricultural technology both of which are vitally important as tourism and farming are mainstays of the Welsh economy.   They and others who worked on the conference but did not speak deserve many congratulations for their respective contributions to a very successful event.

M-SParc can build on this success.  A lady sitting behind me suggested future activities in places like Dolgellau and other towns in the former county of Meirionnydd, an idea which received an echo of appreciation,   

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7494 5252 during UK business hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.

Wales Enterprise Day - The Works

Standard YouTube Licence

Jane Lambert

Last Monday I chaired the fourth Wales Enterprise Day seminar at the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc"). It was filmed by Iwan Pitts and readers can watch the whole proceedings on YouTube.  Wales Enterprise Day was the brainchild of Emily Roberts.  She intended it to be a counterweight to World IP Day which M-SParc has celebrated every year since 2019,  As World IP Daty takes place in Spring M-SParc focuses on start-ups on that day though it does not ignore scale-ups,  In Autumn Wales Enterprise Day focuses on scale-ups but does not forget start-ups.

Our theme this year was Developing an IP Strategy and it was set out comprehensively but also comprehensibly by Antony Craggs of Shoosmiths.  Antony spoke about IP Strategy and Enforcement just before lunch on the last day of the Cambridge IP Law Summer School at Downing College. Winning and holding an audience's attention in that slot is an uphill task but Antony had us sitting bolt-upright as he delivered his talk.  I have heard nearly as many presentations on IP  strategy and enforcement as I have had hot dinners but Antony's talk was exceptional.  I booked him for Wales Enterprise Day before he even left the lecture hall.

Antony chose the same theme for his talk to M-SParc but he delivered it in a very different way,  That was partly because it was given over the Internet and partly because he had a different audience. Most of the attendees at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School are lawyers.  Some are trainee solicitors but most are assistant solicitors with a good knowledge and some practical experience of IP.  Antony's audience on Monday consisted mainly of business owners.  His talk was interactive and he used slido to encourage participation.  He illustrated his talk by considering the business issues and decisions that would be taken by the founders of a new solar power company called "Folt".  The reason for the spelling will be appreciated when it is remembered that "F" is pronounced "V" in Welsh.  If anything Antony's presentation to M-SParc was even more impressive than the one that he gave at Cambridge.  Readers can watch it all on the above video,

The next speaker was Geraint McGrath, Senior Investment Manager of the Foresight Group which is one of the fund managers of the Investment Fund for Wales,  I met Geraint at the St David's Day dinner at the Guildhall in London.  One of the topics we discussed was flotation on the London Stock Exchange,  Having read Capital Issues: Reforming the UK’s Capital Markets to Boost Science and Tech by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Onward which advocated root and branch reform of capital markets I suggested told us the revival of local capital markets in Britain.  I pointed out that several had subsisted until 1972 when they merged with the London Stock Exchange.  I have just found an interesting article about those regional exchanges by Gareth Campbell and others entitled The Rise and Decline of the UK's Provincial Stock Market 1869 to 1929,

Though not exactly a start-up, MDF Recovery Ltd opened a new office at M-SParc in May of this year (see MDF Recovery expands presence with new office at M-Sparc, Anglesey 7 May 2024),  The office is led by Rob Elias who is Head of Business Development at the company.  I first met Rob when he chaired a workshop on sustainable packaging that I addressed in January 2019 (see IP for the Welsh Food and Packaging Industries 30 Jan 2019 NIPC News).  He was also a guest speaker at M-SParc's World IP Day celebrations in 2020.  Rob introduced us to his company's technology which extracts wood fibre from waste medium-density fibreboard so that it can be reconstituted into fresh blocks.

Tom Burke has founded several successful businesses and is also Digital Innovation Manager at M-SParc. His latest enterprise is Streams+ which promotes eSports.  Tom told us about his pivot from video conferencing to eSports.  He mentioned the first Welsh-speaking eSports event at the National Eisteddfod which he helped to organize and promote (see Emily Roberts Historic First: Welsh Language Esports Competition Debuts at National Eisteddfod 7 Aug 2024  M-Sparc's website).  He also said that the International Olympic Committee has organized an annual eSports Series and that the event was gaining popularity rapidly.

The last speaker was Emma Richards, Regional Policy Advisor at the IPO.  Last year I quizzed her about the use of Welsh at the Intellectual Property Office.  As there has definitely been some progress since then I introduced her as "the lady who can get things done" (see IPO's Welsh Language Website 13 Nov 2024 NIPC Wales). Emma modestly disclaimed credit for the language progress but she introduced us to the IPO's YouTube channel and showed us the IP Basics and attachés videos.  Most importantly, she promised support to enable M-SParc to provide its tenants and local business community with the services available in the Business and IP Centres network in England,  As a first step she has arranged for Gwenllian Owen, M-SParc's Commercialization and Innovation Officer, to attend the IPO's IP Masterclass and Gwenllian will be followed on that course shortly by Lois Bevan Shaw, Business Support & Project Development Manager at M-SParc.

This is a convenient point for me to express my gratitude to Gwenllian for all the work that she did to make the Wales Enterprise Day seminar happen.  I suggested speakers, promoted the event in this publication and on social media and chaired the seminar on the day but Gwenllian did everything else which must have required a lot of work.  I see from Gwenllian's LinkedIn page that she has recently marked her second anniversary with M-SParc.  Her achievements at the science park have been considerable and I think she can fairly chalk up Monday's seminar as yet another resounding success. 

Finally, I remind readers that Monday's seminar was not an isolated event.   It was just one of several free services that Sean Thomas, Andrea Knox, Steve Livingston and I offer together with other IP professionals (see An IP Clinic for M-SParc 25 Jan 2024 NIPC Wales).   These will complement the Business and IP Centre services that Emma Richards referred to in her talk,  Immediately after the seminar I was consulted by two young local inventors who are contemplating an interesting business venture,   Anyone wishing to access those services can do so at any time by completing the attached form. 

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

M-SParc's Finance and Innovation Conference

MIT Lobby
By Madcoverboy at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20701447

Jane Lambert

I returned to the Menai Science Park yesterday for its Finance and Innovation Conference.  I nearly missed it because I noticed a flat tyre just as I was about to set off early in the morning.   I managed to get it fixed by 11:30 which was when the conference was due to start.   After checking whether I could attend the afternoon session, I hit the motorway and arrived at M-SParc just as Gwenllian Owen was chairing what appeared to be a discussion between business angels.

Happily, that meant I arrived in good time for a lecture by Phil Budden from Massachusetts Institute of Technology by video link.  Dr Budden is the Senior Lecturer in Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management at the Sloan School.  His talk focussed on innovation-driven entities ("IDE"), a type of startup in a new technology that makes a loss at the start but then rapidly generates revenue.  He contrasted those businesses with other small and medium enterprises which tend to generate profits steadily,  The revenue curve of an IDE starts with a "U" representing a dip below the break-even line followed by an almost vertical upward curve.  The typical SME generates profits from the start and its curve is a steady 45 degrees.  The SME were the backbone of advanced economies but it was the IDE that generated growth.

As Dr Budden was speaking I thought of Amazon which had begun as an online bookseller reporting loss after loss in the early days and its Chinese equivalent Alibaba.  It prompted me to ask why it was only America and China that were producing tech giants like Alphabet and Baidu.  Where was the European or for that matter any other nation's equivalent?  In his reply, Dr Budden referred to the massive size of the US and Chinese economies.  They operate on a continental scale.  The UK, by contrast, was erecting impediments to transcontinental trade.  He invited me to respond and I referred to the US government's massive investment in defence that I had noticed as a graduate student in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.

A man in a dark green shirt asked for advice on setting up in the USA.  Dr Budden recommended among other things incorporation in Delaware.  He was right to say that many of America's leading companies are incorporated in that state.  That is because of its very flexible rules on incorporation known as "blue sky laws" and the strict regulation of corporations by its Court of Chancery.  Wales and England used to have a similar court until 1873 when the courts of equity and common law merged into one Supreme Court of Judicature albeit with separate divisions, procedural rules and practices which still exist today.

I tried to attract the attention of the man in the green shirt to introduce him to a US contact with a very similar practice to mine who should be able to help him but there were too many distractions for both of us.  Instead, I suggested to Gwenllian and Lois Bevan Shaw a seminar on expansion into the US market with a video link to my contact and others in the USA.  They seemed receptive to the idea and I have already started work on a proposal for such an event to be staged on Wales Enterprise Day in November.

Although Dr Budden's talk was the main attraction for me there were plenty of other good talks:

• 11:30 - 12:00  Registration and brunch
• 12:00 - 12:05  Welcome by Gwenllian and Lois
• 12:05 - 12:25  Business Wales & Big Ideas Wales
• 12:25 - 12:45 Samantha Williams and Ann Sudder Welsh Government Innovation Team
• 12:45 - 13:00 Louise Jones InnovateUK
• 13:00 - 13:30 Hannah Williams in conversation with Pryderi ap Rhisiart 
• 13:40 - 13:50 Gwenllian Owen and Sean King and other angels 
• 13:55 - 14:10 Anna Roberts of Explorage on her founder's journey
• 14:10 - 14:50 Edward Thomas with Steven Livingston of IP Taxation and representatives of several funding institutions
• 15:00 - 16:00 Dr Phil Buddon on IDEs
• 16:00 - 16:15  Bangor University's voucher scheme for local businesses
• 16:15 - 16:45 Case studies and flash grants
• 16:45 - 17:15  Sundry grants
• 17:15 - 18:30  Barbecue

One of my compatriots who works for the Department of Transport delivered part of his presentation in Welsh which was welcomed with well-deserved applause. It has inspired me to make more time to study the language.

The event took place in glorious sunshine.  The mountains across the strait have never looked lovelier.   Tim Powell posted a picture of that view on LinkedIn.   As he said in his post it is remarkable that anyone ever does any work when surrounded by such beauty.  The science park has hosted some great events in the 6 years that I have known them but this was one of the best.  Hearty congratulations to Pryderi, Gwenllian, Lois and everyone else who was involved in the conference.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article can call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal office hours or send me a message through my contact form.