M-SParc's World IP Day Celebrations

 

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day is an international festival of creativity, enterprise and innovation on or around 26 April of every year.  The Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") has celebrated the event every year since 2019.  Information about its previous celebrations can be found on the World Intellectual Property Day portal of this website.

Each year, the festivities revolve around a different theme.  This year's theme is music. I wrote about that topic in World Intellectual Property Day 2025 - IP and Music: Feel the Beat of IP on 28 Dec 2024.  As I noted in that article, "music is an art form in which Wales excels in every genre and at every level."  As in previous years, M-SParc plans to hold a lunchtime seminar to celebrate the event.  As 26 April falls on a weekend this year, the seminar will take place between 12:00 and 14:00 on 29 April 2025.

Gwenllian Owen, M-SParc's Innovation and Commercialization Officer, has put together a great programme of talks which will include contributions from 

• Emma Richards of the Intellectual Property Office on IP strategy, 
• Dr Steffan Thomas of Bangor University Business School on music copyright, 
• Copyright consultant Dafydd Roberts on copyright, publishing and performance. 
• John Hywel Morris of the Performing Right Society on collecting societies, and  
• Liam Kurmos of Busnes Cymru on copyright and artificial intelligence.

I shall chair the event as in previous years.  We have invited a lot of distinguished guests from the performing arts, universities, legal profession in Wales and beyond.  Everybody who attends will have an opportunity to say a few words from the floor.

This promises to be M-SParc's most ambitious celebration of World IP Day yet. If you happen to be in Northwest Wales on the day, you will be welcome to join us in person at M-SParc.  Anyone, anywhere else in the world, can attend by video link.  In either case, click this link and follow the simple registration instructions on the Eventbrite card.

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

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.

World IP Day 2024 - IP and the Sustainable Development Goals

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day is an international festival of creativity and innovation which takes place on or around 26 April of every year. It celebrates the entry into force of the international agreement that established the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO"), the UN specialist agency that assists governments to protect investment in creativity, enterprise and innovation ("intellectual assets") through a bundle of laws known collectively as "intellectual property". World IP Day is one of two annual intellectual property events that the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") celebrates every year.   The other is Wales Enterprise Day which takes place in November,

Every year World IP Day revolves around a different theme.   The theme for 2024 will be "IP and the Sustainable Development Goals".  There are 17 sustainable development goals which are introduced by this YouTube video.  M-SParc and the other science parks of Wales have businesses that promote those goals.  World IP Day 2024 will be a splendid opportunity to promote and celebrate those enterprises. This year's celebrations by M-SParc and other organizations throughout the United Kingdom should do much to bring the sustainable development goals to the attention of the British public.   Although I like to keep of myself as reasonably well informed of such matters I had only the sketchiest awareness of the programme before the announcement of the theme for this year's World IP Day,

As the theme for World IP Day 2024 has only just been announced I have not yet had an opportunity to confer with the management of M-SParc about this year's celebrations.  In the past, the park's managing director, Pryderi ap Rhisiart,  has put Emily Roberts, M-SParc's Outreach and Community Manager, in charge of the event and I have assisted Emily by suggesting speakers and chairing pr speaking at the event on the day. I shall be very glad to assist M-SParc again if it so wishes this year. As soon as the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays are over, I shall seek an early video conference with Emily and her colleague, Iwan Pitts, to discuss M-SParc's contributions to the World IP Day 2024 celebrations.

By celebrating World IP Day and Wales Enterprise Day, M-SParc has done much to raise awareness of the importance of intellectual property not only among its own tenants but also among businesses and institutions throughout Northwest Wales. Safeguarding businesses' investment in branding, creativity, design and innovation is crucial to the economic regeneration of the region.

Anyone wishing to discuss this topic can call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal business hours after the holidays. In the meantime, they are welcome to send me a message through my contact form.

Welsh Government Funding for Green Vehicle Technology and other News

Methanol Fuel Cell

Author NASA Licence Public Domain  Source Wikimedia

 

Jane Lambert

This month's Innovation Brief from the Welsh Government's Economy. Treasury and Constitution Group contains three very interesting news items.   

The first is that the Welsh Government is co-funding a third round of investment in greener and cleaner innovation through the Ford Low Carbon Vehicle Transformation Fund.  Details of the funding were announced by the Minister, Mr Vaughan Gething, on 12 July 2023 (see the press release Economy Minister announces further £1m investment in green vehicle innovation),  Application forms and guidance notes for the funding can be downloaded from the Ford Low Carbon Vehicle Transformation Fund now open! of the Business Wales website now.

The second item that attracted my attention was an invitation to nominate candidates for next year's St David Awards.  Those awards are made to "exceptional people that make Wales great".  There are 10 categories 9 of which are nominated by members of the public:

• Business
• Bravery
• Community Spirit
• Critical Worker (Key Worker)
• Culture
• Environment
• Innovation, Science and Technology
• Sport
• Young Person
• First Minister's Special Award.

This year's "Business" award went to Câr y Môr, Wales's first regenerative ocean farm, and its "Innovation Science and Technology" award to CanSense, a spin-out company from Swansea University which has developed diagnostic tests for bowel cancer.   Online nomination forms can be completed here.

The final item is the CRISP23 Innovation Drumbeat webinar on 19 Sept 2023 on the latest support and funding opportunities for innovation, R&D funding as well as how to make these projects more effective.

Readers who are not already aware of Business Wales will find up-to-date resources on starting, running and growing a business in Wales. I particularly recommend the pages on Start-up and Business Planning and Business Ideas and Innovation. One of the web pages that I picked out at random under "Success Stories" was a story about Abel and Imray's initiative with young school student inventors in Pembrokeshire (see Young Welsh inventors given legal patent support for innovative new products").

Anybody who needs specialist advice on intellectual property or technology law can continue to access our pro bono initial advice and signposting service by completing the simple online form at the end of this article. Anyone wanting to discuss this post may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

World Intellectual Property Day - M-SParc's Luchtime Seminar

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day - Celebrating Wales.s Women Entrepreneurs, Inventors and Creatives - Menai Science Park 26 April 2023 12:30 

It is less than three weeks to World Intellectual Property Day.   For readers who missed my post, World Intellectual Property Dat 2023, on 27 Jan 2023, it is a worldwide festival of creativity, enterprise and innovation which takes place on 26 April of every year.  Each year the celebrations focus on a different theme.  This year's theme will be Women and IP:  Accelerating Innovation and Creativity.  In keeping with that theme, the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") will celebrate the contribution of women entrepreneurs, inventors and creatives in Wales.

As in previous years, the main celebration at M-SParc will be a lunchtime seminar which will take place in one of the conference rooms and online.  One of the speakers will be Anna Roberts, the founder and CEO of Explorage.com.  That company has just launched a new web-based service that helps those with goods to store to find the optimum self-storage facilities in their area.  It also puts those with self-storage facilities in touch with members of the public looking for self-storage.  Emily Roberts has written about the service in Explorage com Launches New Platform which she posted to M-SParc's website on 6 April 2023.

Explorage.com is one of many innovative new businesses that are based in M-SParc.  Most provide services which is to be expected in a mature economy such as the United Kingdom where services account for 79.2% of GDP.  That is comparable to France at 78.8%, Germany at 71.1% and the USA at 79.7%. Protecting innovation in services is challenging because the world's intellectual property system was constructed during the industrial revolution when the priority was to protect innovation in manufacturing.  That may explain the exclusions of schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers as such from the definition of patentable inventions in art 52 (2) (c) of the European Patent Convention,  Also, it was not until the mid-1980s that the Trade Marks Act 1938 was amended to enable the registration of trade marks for services.

As there is no such thing as a service patent, new services have to be protected indirectly. That requires an analysis of the service provider's income-generating assets and a plan for protecting them which ideally should be incorporated into the enterprise's business plan.   In most cases, it is the brand that attracts customers so the enterprise will have to fund the registration of a trade mark in all the countries in which it intends to do business.  Sometimes the most important asset will be technical or commercial information. Trade secrecy law throughout Europe has recently been codified by the Trade Secrets Directive which remains part of our law notwithstanding Brexit.  Thought also has to be given to enforcement which remains expensive despite efforts of the courts and legal professions to minimize the costs.  For most small businesses, IP enforcement requires specialist insurance the premiums for which should also be written into the business plan.

These and other issues will be on the menu at M-SParc's lunchtime seminar on 26 April 2023.  If you want to book your place at the table or are looking for more information, call me at +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during office hours or message me through my contact form.

Innovation for a Stronger, Fairer and Greener Wales

Author User:Gdr Licence CC BY-SA 3.0 Source Wikimedia Commons
 

Jane Lambert

The Welsh Government published a new innovation strategy yesterday with the objectives of creating better jobs, improved health and care services, a greener environment and a more prosperous nation.  Those are to be achieved through innovation which is defined as "the creation and application of new knowledge to improve the world."  The strategy is to be implemented by an action plan which will be published later.

Education

Education is central to the strategy because "schools, colleges, universities and research organisations create knowledge through research" which can "lead to commercialisation, create societal value, and support a stronger economy."   The new Curriculum for Wales should prepare learners for work in knowledge-based careers and the opportunities and challenges of an ever-changing economy. A new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (CTEE) should create a more strategic, collaborative, and joined-up education and research sector for universities and colleges.

Economy

The mission is "an economy that innovates for growth, collaborates across sectors for solutions to society’s challenges, adopts new technologies for efficiency and productivity, uses resources proportionately, and allows citizens to share wealth through fair work."  The Welsh Government acknowledges that the Welsh economy is integrated into that of the UK and that its innovation strategy must be compatible with the UK one.  However, there is still scope for Welsh initiatives in R&D funding, public sector procurement, small business research, digital and healthcare innovation and Global Wales which will be pursued. A particularly exciting development is a partnership with T-Hub in Hyderabad which is the world's biggest innovation campus. 

Health and Wellbeing

The mission for this sector is a "coherent innovation ecosystem where the health and social care sector collaborates with industry, academia and the third sector to deliver greater value and impact for citizens, the economy, and the environment."  The pandemic occasioned clinicians to develop new ways of delivering health and social care which were discussed in  The NHS Wales COVID-19 Innovation and Transformation Study Report,  The strategy proposes greater alignment of the health and social care innovation ecosystems, coordinating health and social care with the wider economy and community.  Social Care Wales is developing a social care research, innovation and improvement which is set out in A healthier Wales: long term plan for health and social care.  Health and social care priorities will dovetail with the initiatives in the economy, education climate and nature.

Climate and Nature

This mission covers meeting Wales's climate change objectives.  Proposals include reducing reliance on fossil fuels, making greater use of renewals, developing new power storage technologies and substituting hydrogen for hydrocarbons.  Existing plans for future gas and electricity networks will be implemented. The adoption of new technologies for heating buildings will be encouraged, particularly retrofitting for older structures. Shared vehicle use will be promoted in order to reduce the need for individual vehicle ownership.  Other initiatives include greater use of recycling of household waste such as using dirty nappies as a road construction material and developing the Welsh timber industry.

Comment

In contrast to the UK Innovation Strategy which I reviewed in NIPC Invention on 12 Aug 2021,  the Welsh Innovation Strategy is ambitious but doable.   The UK strategy had the aim of transforming the UK into a science and tech superpower by 2030 - pure boosterism of the kind promoted by the last Prime Minister but one.  As I said in my review:

"the idea that British companies will be competing with the likes of Huawei, Mitsubishi and Samsung in such fields as artificial intelligence, mobile telecoms, consumer electronics or any other new technology is as fanciful as the garden bridge, an airport in the Thames estuary and a bridge to Northern Ireland."

If I have any criticism of the Welsh strategy it is that it bothers to mention the UK Innovation Strategy.  There are lots of good ideas in the Welsh strategy such as the coordination of the education, economy, healthcare and climate and nature missions and the use of universities and other educational institutions as centres of research. 

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.  

World Intellectual Property Day 2023

Author WIPO Licence CC Attribution 3.0 IGO

 

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day is an annual, international festival of creativity and innovation that takes place on or around 26 April to celebrate the anniversary of the coming into force of the treaty that established the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO"), the UN agency for intellectual property.   Each year the celebrations focus on a different theme.  This year's theme is "Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity."

The Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") at Gaerwen on Anglesey has celebrated every World IP Day since 2019 with a lunchtime seminar.  These have been Wales's main contribution to the worldwide celebrations.  They have raised awareness of the importance of intellectual property to the businesses and general public in Northwest Wales but also the rapidly growing importance of the region to the Welsh and wider UK economies.   

Nothing underscores the region's importance more than the opening of Aria Film Studios near Llangefni which I shall discuss in a separate article shortly.  Those studios have stimulated demand for creatives and technicians of all kinds prompting imaginative responses from local and national recruitment and training providers.  

It is with those developments in mind that M-SParc has begun to plan this year's World IP Day celebrations.  As in previous years, the project will be led by Emily Roberts with the assistance of Charlie Jones.   The centrepiece will be a hybrid in-person and online seminar for which we hope to use the Haia platform.  The main speakers will be women inventors and creatives from M-SParc's tenant companies plus at least one IP professional.   As we have a little more time to plan this year we hope to encourage some of the organizations based at M-SParc and in the region to stage their own celebrations. 

Anyone wishing to discuss this article is welcome to call me at +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any other time. 

Nesta Cymru

 

Jane Lambert

Nesta stands for National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.  It was established by s,18 of the National Lotteries Act 1998 to administer funds raised by the lottery.  In 2012 its assets were transferred to a charity which has carried out the Endowment's functions ever since (see National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts is now independent of the UK government on the UK government website). Nesta describes itself as "The UK's innovation agency for social good."

Yesterday Nesta published its first issue of Nesta Cymru, a newsletter on the charity's events, research and projects in Wales,  It discussed healthy school meals, access to healthy food for adults to combat obesity, Nesta's submission to the Senedd on decarbonizing the private housing sector, access to green finance to upgrade homes, Nesta's partnership with Flintshire County Council to use early years data to support families,  Helen Wales's article on Graham Donaldson, Laura James's article Embracing insurgency: why local authorities need to be ready to fail and an interview with Dr Jan Rosenow, Principal and Director of European Programmes, Regulatory Assistance Project.

Nesta Cymru indicates Nesta's collaboration with the Welsh government, Cardiff University, the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and the Arts Council of Wales to fund programmes, produce research and design and test new ideas in its mission areas.  Nesta notes that devolution enables Wales to experiment and try new ideas for social good, finding places where devolution allows it to go further and faster in achieving its aims.  It has already set up Arloesiadur: an innovation dashboard for Wales and Y Lab, a public services innovation lab for Wales with Cardiff University and has supported several arts projects in Wales.

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

Consultation on a New Innovation Strategy for Wales

Jane Lambert

 

Yesterday the Welsh government launched a consultation on a new innovation strategy for Wales.  It has published a draft Innovation Strategy for Wales upon which it invites responses by 28 Sept 2022. Responses can be made online or by post.   Yesterday's Innovation Brief which announced the consultation mentioned "consultation events" at which views can be contributed in person but I have not yet been able to find any particulars of them,  However, those who want to register an interest can email InnovationStrategy@gov.wales.

According to the consultation document the Welsh government published Innovation Wales in 2013.  The consultation document reported that Innovation Wales had been successful but the "innovation landscape" has changed since then.   The UK has left the EU, the world has suffered the Covid19 pandemic and the legislature has enacted the  Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

S.4 of that Act sets out the following well-being goals:

• a prosperous Wales
• a resilient Wales
• a healthier Wales
• a more equal Wales
• a Wales of cohesive communities
• a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language, and 
• a globally responsible Wales.

The strategy aims to forward those goals.

I was very encouraged to read the following observation on the Menai Science Park:

"M-Sparc, the low carbon incubator centre on Anglesey work with clients to turn initial ideas into successful ventures. They ignite ambition and offer a facility to energise, somewhere to spark a better future. Their tenants are built from great ideas at the cutting edge of science, they are offered expert knowledge, support, encouragement and investment to succeed. M-Sparc also work with a number of international businesses who are developing major infrastructure projects on Anglesey in nuclear, solar, marine and offshore wind, they encourage the use of local content in the supply chain by supporting companies to develop their capability a capacity to compete for tenders in these major projects."

There are 22 questions ranging from:

"What would you like the Innovation Strategy to achieve in the short (1 year) term in relation to: 

• Economic growth 
• Skills development 
• Social equity 
• Climate and environment 
• Other" 

in question 1 to

"As part of Welsh Government commitment to a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language, the proposed Innovation Strategy looks to ensure multi-lingual development as standard. 

Do you agree that the strategy outlines the ways in which it hopes to successfully create the right conditions to increase the use of the Welsh Language across all proposed innovation activities? If not, what additional activities should be undertaken?"

in question 15.

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

World IP Day 2022: IP and Youth: "Innovating for a Better Future"

 

Since 26 April 2019, the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) has led Wales's contribution to the worldwide festival of creativity, enterprise and innovation known as World Intellectual Property Day. Each year the festival focuses on a different theme. The theme for this year is "IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future."  At a video conference earlier in the year, Emily Roberts, Jamie Thomas and I  interpreted that phrase as "a celebration of the creativity, enterprise and innovation of young people around the world."  Accordingly, we agreed to celebrate the creativity, enterprise and innovation of the young people of Wales.

Wales's choral tradition is renowned but it is also a dancing nation.  Its classical dance company, Ballet Cymru has created a rich repertoire that features exciting new works such as Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs and Tir to the music of Cerys Matthews but also adaptations of Giselle, Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella for small casts in tiny theatres.  The company has presented those works in rural and inner-city venues around the United Kingdom and beyond.  Ballet Cymru's super-talented young artists will dance for us in their studio in Newport and their artistic director, Darius James will discuss their outreach work for the children and young people of Wales.

One of the leaders of the US space programme was an Anglesey man called Tecwyn Roberts.  He never forgot the junior school that had given him his start and he revisited it. at the height of his career.  One of the students of the school at the time of his visit was a little girl called Nia Roberts. Nia was inspired to read natural sciences at university.  She has also enjoyed a glittering career in science to inspire a new generation of school kids to follow her into STEM.

Tecwyn had to leave Wales for a career in space.  That is no longer necessary for Wales has a rapidly growing space sector which is attracting bright young men and women from around the world.  Representatives of that industry will outline some of the opportunities for new businesses in everything from telecommunications to remote sensing and mention the highly paid 

jobs that will be available to those who want to work in them.

All of that requires entrepreneurs ready to spot the opportunities and exploit them. Who better to talk about that infrastructure than Tom Burke, founder and CEO of the communications platform Haia. Tom will tell us how he developed Haia at M-SParc and how local financial and professional service providers have helped him to grow his business.

Tom, Nia, Darius and others will speak at a lunchtime seminar between 12:30 and 14:00 on 26 April 2022 that anyone anywhere in the world can join online.  Those who happen to be in M-Sparc on the day can also attend in person.  Register here to secure your place. There will also be an all-day exhibition at M-SParc on the Welsh space industry, Ballet Cymru, Haia and all sorts of other contributions to World IP Day in Wales and around the world. 

Further Reading

26 April 2022  Intellectual Property Office: Innovating for a Better Future: Intellectual property and youth

2 April 2022 Diwrnod Eiddo Deallusol y Byd / World Intellectual Property Day

March 2022  Nadine Hakizimana and Edward Kwakwa  Now’s the time for young people to switch on to intellectual property  WIPO Wire

28 Dec 2021  Jane Lambert World IP Day and Youth

Supporting Innovation and Creativity in North Wales

Jane Lambert

 

I have just started a new LinkedIn group called "ERGC/NWIP". "EDGC" is short for "Eiddo Deallusol Gogledd Cymru" which means "North Wales Intellectual Property".  I shall not insult readers' intelligence by telling them what the letters "NWIP" stand for. This new LinkedIn group is intended to be a forum and resource for everyone who is interested in innovation and creativity in North Wales in any capacity.  

Both the name of the group and its logo are provisional.  I am no graphic designer or branding expert. If anybody has a better idea for a name or logo I am open to suggestions.  I took the photo of the countryside near Caernarfon from the castle battlements under a lowering sky on a typical August day.  

The idea of a LinkedIn group is not mine but Sean Thomas's.  Sean is a patent attorney and inventor who was born and brought up on Anglesey and holds a degree from Bangor University.   He suggested the group at a seminar at the Menai Science Park which I chaired on 20 Sept 2019 (see Building an Enterprise Ecosystem on Anglesey 25 Sept 2019).

I was prompted to set up this group by an enquiry about trade marks from a company that already knew a lot about intellectual property,  It had previously instructed a patent attorney who used to practise in North Wales but has now retired to Scotland.  I also saw a report in the North Wales Chronicle about an project that combines artificial intelligence with drone technology that reminded me of the Welsh aviation pioneer William Frost who filed his own patent for a flying machine that he had invented in 1894 (see In William Frost's Footsteps 15 May 2021 LinkedIn and Patent Design and Trade Mark Filings in Wales  28 Nov 2019).  

The thought that crossed my mind was whether Frost would be able to access specialist IP advice if he were alive now.   He lived at Saundersfoot which is over 90 miles from Cardiff and Newport where most of the expertise in Wales on IP is concentrated.  Not a lot has changed in that regard since 1894.   

A LinkedIn group could help.  It is a great place for making contact with folk with skills and connections that you need. It is also a great place for gathering resources.  Every time I publish an article, deliver a presentation or even see an article that could be of value to knowledge-based businesses in North Wales I shall mention it to the group and encourage others to do the same.  At present most of those articles will be in English because I started learning Welsh from an online course only last summer.  I shall try to contribute in Welsh as well as English as I master that language. 

Anyone seeking more information about the group can visit it at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9060289/, I shall gladly answer enquiries through LinkedIn or by phone on 020 7404 5252 during normal office hours.

What Every Startup and Small Business in Wales should know about IP

Wales from the International Space Station

Author Chris Hadfield NASA  Public Domain

Jane Lambert

I should first like to wish my readers in Wales and the rest of the world a Happy New Year. With continued lockdowns in Wales and many other parts of the world, there could not be a more depressing start. But the world will recover.  New businesses offering new products and services will continue to be launched creating new highly paid jobs in Wales.

The success of those products and services will depend on their branding, design, technology and creativity. It is those attributes that I call "intellectual assets" that gives one business a competitive advantage over all others.  A good idea by one competitor is likely to be adopted by others. To some extent that is a good thing and is to be encouraged because that is how science and society advance.  But not if the effect is to deprive the person who dreamt up the idea and invested in developing it from benefiting from it.  That would eventually stifle innovation and creativity.

It is obviously fair that an author designer. inventor or other intellectual asset creator who invests his or her time and money on developing a new product or service should recoup his or her investment and maybe earn a little extra on the side but consumers should not have to pay through the nose for the product or service forever.  The laws that strike a balance between the interests of the author, designer, inventor or other creator and the public are known collectively as "intellectual property". Examplers of intellectual property rights are the 20-year monopoly of the manufacturer, sale and use of a new invention known as a "patent" or the lifetime plus 70 years protection against unauthorized copying of a work of art or literature called a "copyright".

Earlier this week I was discussing possible topics for webinars for the Enterprise Hub with Emily Roberts of M-SParc (the Menai Science Park near Gaerwen on Anglesey).  I proposed two topics:

• One was on IP and funding similar to one that the Intellectual Property Office had run on 8 Dec 2020 entitled 'How to use your IP to unlock financial opportunities' to be presented on World Intellectual Property Day on 26 April 2021; and
• The other was the changes to intellectual property law following the expiry on 31 Dec 2020 of the transition period provided by the agreement for the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Emily replied that both topics seemed engaging to her but she asked: " Is there any you’d think more appropriate for a smaller or start-up business?"

I replied with the synopsis of a 40-minute talk that I had given many times before and which I shall give again on 9 Feb to the Bradford Network:

• "What are your business's assets? Is it its good name, the experience of staff, quality of service, design or technology?
• Are you making full use of those assets? Licensing revenue, collateral for borrowing and means of attracting investment
• How can you secure those revenues? Trade marks for brands, patents for tech and design registration for the appearance of goods plus the free IP rights like copyright
• How do you set about getting those rights? How long does it take and how much does it cost?
• How do you face down challenges to your rights? Litigation and insurance
• How do you budget?
• What licensing and other revenues can you expect."

Obviously, a talk to entrepreneurs and other business owners in  Northwest Wales will have to be different from the one I would give to a similar audience in Yorkshire because the economies and cultures of the two regions are quite different even though some issues and solutions are universal.

Emily liked the proposal and drafted an Eventbrite card for the talk which she will publish when she has chosen a date and time for the event.  I for my part will draw up slides and a PDF handout designed specifically for businesses in Wales with such information as local advice and information services and useful websites that can be downloaded from Slideshare.

Anybody who wants to discuss this article or IP, in general, may call me during office hours on 020 7404 5252/  Like many other people I am working from home for the duration but our new phone system can forward your call to me wherever I happen to be at no extra cost.  Alternatively, you can send me a message through my contact form.  Incidentally, if you do call I would welcome a chance to practise my Welsh conversation.   I am halfway through an internet training course in Welsh, there are not too many Welsh speakers nearby and I can't visit Wales until it is safe and lawful to do so.

Completion of Aberystwyth's Science Park on Time and on Budget

Standard YouTube Licence

Jane Lambert

On 24 Aug 2020, a huge replica of a key was handed to the management of the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus (Aberinnovation) at Gogerddan to mark the completion of the construction. According to Ben Jones. it was finished on time and on budget (see Jones Handover signals the completion of the new Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus 26 Aug 2020). The construction of that science park would have been noteworthy at any time but, as much of the work had to be carried out during lockdown, it is all the more remarkable.
.
I first learned about the plan to build a science park when I visited Aberystwyth University's Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Science ("IBERS") on 13 March 2019 to deliver a talk on Intellectual Property Rights relating to Waste Management and Sustainable Packaging at a workshop on sustainable packaging and waste that had been organized by the Beacon Biorefining Centre of Excellence.  IBERS and Beacon had been at Gogerddan for many years. IBERS has a worldwide reputation for its research in agriculture, plant breeding and related technologies while Beacon is a partnership between Aberystwyth and several other Welsh universities to commercialize research in those technologies.  The idea of the science park was to attract a cluster of science and technology-based businesses to Gogerddan that could contribute to such research as well as exploit it.  I discussed the idea of clusters when I visited IBERS for a second time on 19 June 2019 for a workshop  entitled "From Plants to Bio-Based Products The Challenges to and Opportunities for Development and Scale-up in Wales." (see Jane Lambert
"From Plants to Bio-Based Products" Motivation and Mutual Learning Workshop in Aberystwyth on 21 June 2010).

On 28 Feb 2020, the science park published its first newsletter which I blogged in Aberinnovation: Mid-Wales's New Science Park.   The newsletter discussed the progress of the construction work and its first seminars.   I learned about the completion of the project from Mr Jones's newsletter which was mentioned on Linkedin.  It appears from its website that all the science park's facilities are now open, that the first tenants have moved in, an accelerator for businesses in biosciences, healthcare, agri-tech and food and drink sectors will be launched in September and a webinar with Dr Rhian Hayward, the park's chief executive officer, will take place on 23 Sept 2020.

The inventions, new plant and seed varieties and other technologies to be developed in Gogerddan as well as the brands of the new businesses will require legal protection if they are to be exploited.  According to the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys' database, there are no patent attorneys within 50 miles of Gorgoddan.  That is also true of the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) on Anglesey but over the last 2 years a number of support networks have formed to advise and assist not just the park's tenants but all other businesses in Northwest Wales (see Ecosystem 2.0 of 21 Aug 2020).  Those networks presented Wales's only contribution to World Intellectual Property Day in 2019 and 2020.  There is no reason why similar networks should not emerge around Gogerddan. If they do, I should be glad to participate in them.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any of the issues contained in it may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

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.

Aberinnovation: Mid-Wales's New Science Park

Standard YouTube Licence


Jane Lambert

Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus ("Aberinnovation") has just distributed its first newsletter.  It contains news of

• the construction of the campus, 
• a half-day conference on business funding by the Development Bank of Wales and Angels Invest Wales which will take place at the offices of Aberinnovation on 24 March 2020, and 
• a business breakfast to be attended by Hannah Blythyn AM (Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government) on the theme "Making the Circular Economy in Wales a Reality" in the William Davies Hall on the Gogerddan campus at 08:30 on 26 March 2020.

On the construction of the campus, the newsletter reports that the Future Food Centre, Advanced Analysis Centre and Innovation Hub will be fully operational by October 2020. They will join the Biorefining Centre and Seed Biobank to form AberInnovation's core capabilities.

According to the History page of the campus's website, Aberinnovation is a joint project between Aberystwyth University and the Biotechnology and the Biological Sciences Research Council "to convert the 21st Century’s grand challenges of food, water and energy security into sustainable and prosperous opportunities for society, recognising that innovation in agriculture and the food supply chain will play a critical role in fostering a knowledge-based bio-economy."  The vision for the campus is to create a world leading facility for bio-science research, developing ground breaking products for the agri-tech market.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any of the topics mentioned in it should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Related Article

Date	Author	Title	Publication
21.06.19	Jane Lambert	"From Plants to Bio-Based Products" Motivation and Mutual Learning Workshop in Aberystwyth	NIPC Wales

Entrepreneurial Support Services in Wakes

Jane Lambert

Be The Spark, a collaboration between business, government, universities and other interests to promote enterprise and innovation, has published its first edition blueprint of entrepreneurial support services throughout Wales.  It takes the form of an interactive map with co-working spaces, accelerator hubs, business services, tech facilities and membership organisations available to entrepreneurs. Members of the public are asked to notify Be The Spark of any services that aren’t currently represented through its contact form.

Be The Spark also lists talks and other events on its Events page, case studies and news items. Currently, it is featuring Cufflink.io Ltd., a software developer at the Menai Science Park on Anglesey.