World IP Day 2022 - Celebrating the Creativity, Enterprise and Innovation of the Young People of Wales

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Jane Lambert

Today is World Intellectual Property Day.  Intellectual property is the collective name for the bundle of rights such as patents, trade marks, copyrights and registered designs that protect investment in brands, designs, technology and works of art and literature,  World Intellectual Property Day is an international festival that falls on 26 April of every year.  It marks the anniversary of the entry into force of the treaty that established the World Intellectual Property Organization, the UN specialist agency that coordinates international efforts to encourage, incentivize and reward artists, authors, broadcasters, designers, entrepreneurs, inventors, publishers and others. 

Every year World Intellectual Property Day focuses on a different theme.  This year it is "IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future."   The Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") on Anglesey has interpreted that theme as an invitation to celebrate the creativity, enterprise and innovation of the young people of Wales.  

In World IP Day: Celebrating the Creativity of the Young People of Wales I discussed how the super-talented young dancers of Wales's national ballet company will celebrate their creativity.   In It is About Rocket Science I wrote about Wales's expanding space industry and the massive opportunities open to talented young people as Spaceport Snowdonia develops a commercial satellite launch capability with its elegant new technology.  

Of course, none of this would be possible without entrepreneurs.  To celebrate Welsh enterprise we have invited Tom Burke, co-founder and CEO of Haia to talk about how his company and its meetings platform. He has already made a video for the Level Up Accelerator. 

M-SParc's main celebrations will be a webinar which I shall chair between 12:30 and 14:00 today.  Our speakers will include Nia Roberts, David Young of Spaceport Snowdonia, Tom Burke of Haia and Darius James of Ballet Cymru and his brilliant young artists.   There is still space on the call for those who want to attend it.   All you have to do is click the green button on the Eventbrite page and Emily Roberts or Jamie Thomas will send you a link,

 

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

Celebrating Tecwyn Roberts

Tecwyn Roberts

 

Jane Lambert

In World IP Day: IP Youth 28 Dec 2021 I wrote that my interest in science had been sparked by the launch of Sputnik in 1957, Gagarin's first space flight in 1961 and later NASA's Apollo programme.  My experience was entirely vicarious because I never met any rocket scientists.  Someone who did was a young schoolgirl who met Tecwyn Roberts, Director and Manager of the Goddard Space Flight Center. Roberts was brought up in Anglesey and she met him on a visit to his old school.  She was inspired by his visit to study natural sciences at school and university which launched her on a brilliant career in science and intellectual property.

When Tecwyn Roberts was a boy he had to cross the Atlantic to make a career in rocketry. That is no longer necessary for this generation of schoolchildren because Wales has a significant and growing space sector which I discussed in The Space Industry in Wales on 27 Dec 2021.  On 26 April 2022, the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) will explore the opportunities that this industry offers to young people in Wales as part of Wales's celebrations of World Intellectual Property Day 2022.  

In previous years we have held a lunchtime seminar on the annual theme for World Intellectual Property Day. Last year, for example, it was about Taking Ideas to Market.   We assembled distinguished speakers from the Intellectual Property Office, the Welsh Government, Inngot as well as local experts from BIC Innovation, Knox Commercial Solicitors and IP Tax Solutions (see Menai Science Park's Contribution to World IP Day 2021 25 April 2021).  The theme of this year's seminar will be IP and Youth and we shall be making use of all the resources that are available such as the "Cracking Ideas" programme and the UK Government's guidance in "IP and Education".

In addition to our seminar, we shall offer something new this year.  With the help of the Aerospace Wales Forum and Space Wales, we shall hold an exhibition physically at the science park but also online to celebrate Wales's contribution to space exploration past and present   We are only just beginning to plan that exhibition but I can safely say that it will include the career of Anglesey's pioneer rocket scientist, Tecwyn Roberts.

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

World IP Day: IP and Youth

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Jane Lambert

On 26 April of every year, the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO") celebrates the anniversary of its establishment with a worldwide festival of innovation and creativity.  Since 2019 the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") has contributed greatly towards the celebrations that have taken place in Wales. Every year the international celebrations focus on a specified theme.  The WIPO has just announced that the theme for World Intellectual Property Day in 2022 will be IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future.

That is a theme that resonates with M-SParc because it is one of a number of initiatives to reverse a century of migration of some of Northwest Wales's best and brightest to other parts of the United Kingdom and indeed other parts of the world.  The arts and sciences have always been valued in the region as is evidenced by the contributions of quarrymen and other working people towards the foundation of what is now Bangor University in the late 19th century (see  The Times 20 Oct 1884) but the business and employment opportunities for the region's graduates have until now been limited.

Promising opportunities are opening for young people and an important part of M-SParc's mission is to bring those opportunities to the attention of local college students and schoolchildren. One of the ways in which it does that is through the Young Dynamos Programme with its resources for 5 to 12-year-olds and 13 years plus and Club Sparci.

Yesterday I brought the announcement of this year's theme for World IP Day 2022 to the attention of Pryderi ap Rhisiart, the Managing Director of M-SParc, and Emily Roberts, Operations and Customer Service Manager:

What’s the best way to do that Jane? An overview session with some exciting examples? Colin the caterpillar comes to mind! Can we cover open licensing as well please? Had a request for that from @concreted0g . @SGogledd @northwalestech @Technocamps_BU would be in for it I’m sure!

— Pryderi ap Rhisiart (@prydski) December 27, 2021

I replied that we could do all those things and referred Pryderi to an article on teaching IP to the young in the TES Magazine.   Emily also tweeted that it would be great to involve the Young Dynamos in this year's World IP Day.

These are very early days but one idea that I shall contribute is focusing on Wales's contribution to space technology.   I discussed that topic yesterday in The Space Industry in Wales.  My interest in science was sparked by the launch of Sputnik in 1957, Gagarin's first space flight in 1961 and later NASA's Apollo programme.  Over those years I read every book and article on science and particularly space on which I could lay my hands.  Just a few miles from the science park there is a remarkable company that is developing a satellite launch capability from a high altitude helium balloon.   If that technology can capture the imagination of this septuagenarian think how much more it will inspire generations of young men and women and children.

Any ideas on M-SParc's contribution to this year's World IP Day celebrations from any quarter will be very welcome but we should particularly like to hear from kids in Northwest Wales and their teachers.  You can call me during business hours on 020 7404 5252 or send me your suggestions through my contact form.

The Space Industry in Wales

Satellite Image of Wales

Author NASALicdence Public domain Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

On Boxing Day 2021, The Observer published an article by Robin McKie entitled The Great British Race to Space.   It featured efforts by companies operating in different parts of the United Kingdom using different technologies to launch the first satellite into low earth orbit from British soil.  One of those companies is B2Space Ltd. which plans to launch a satellite bearing rocket from a high altitude helium balloon.  B2Space appears to be based in Newport and operates in Eyrri in Northwest Wales.

B2Space is just one of a growing number of space businesses in Wales.   Space Wales maintains a "Capability Matrix" of businesses in the sector.  Linking those businesses to resources in the universities, government and international agencies, Space Wales is developing a strategy for the sector.  According to the organizers of the UK Space Conference at Newport, Wales saw a 34% increase in the number of organizations and a 40% increase in employment in that sector between 2015 and 2019 albeit from an admittedly small base (see The Space Sector in Wales is growing).

The legislation that has made this growth possible has been the Space Industry Act 2018 which I discussed in Commercial Exploitation of Space: Space Industry Act 2018 on 10 April 2018.  I outlined the licensing regime in Space Industry - Licensing Spaceports the next day.  The new technologies developed by the Welsh space industry will require legal protection and I discussed those issues in The Role of Intellectual Property in Space Commerce on 19 July 2019 in NIPC Cornwall.  Although I had in mind the businesses that have mushroomed around Newquay airport in Cornwall the issues mentioned in the article apply equally to the businesses around Llanbedr and elsewhere in Wales.

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.

Further Reading

Source or Author	Title		DateD
European Patent Office	Space and Satellites		10,04.2017,
Jane Lambert	Celebrating Tecwyn Roberts		18.01.2022
Jane Lambert	It is about Rocket Science		24.012022