Making the Team Work: Exploring IP Challenges

09:00 - 10:30    Opening Plenary: Know-how, the bête noire of knowledge transfer

Welcoming guests to the first in this new series Making the Team Work, thematic event on Exploring IP Challenges, will be ASTP President, Christophe Haunold, followed by veteran IP lawyer Malcolm Bain, who shall explore: Know-how, the bête noire of knowledge transfer.

10:30 - 11:00    Coffee and networking

11:00 - 12:30    The Commercial Potential Audit method: paving commercialisation pathways for SSHA

This workshop session, hosted by Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts (SSHA) Special Interest Group (SIG) will explore the role IP in SSHA commercialisation. 

We are not talking about patents, but about copyrights, trademarks, and brands. Yet, for IP to be relevant, the SSHA commercialisation pipeline needs to be filled. 

How can that be done at a university in a cost and effort efficient way? We will introduce the Commercialisation Potential Audit (CPA) method? 

This is a structured method that enables professional service staff at universities to identify transfer opportunities in SSHA and to adjust support and resources to a promising SSHA commercialisation project portfolio. The transfer pipeline gets filled, a pathway to sustain and scale SSHA projects is paved. 

This workshop will introduce, in an interactive way, some of the techniques and explain the underlying framework (DLAS) for professional service (impact and commercialisation) teams to better understand how to build their pipelines.

Moderator: Christoph Köller

11:00 - 12:30    Managing IP in Digital Innovations

Hosted by the Digital Innovations Special Interest Group (SIG), this workshop will interrogate:

• How to manage IP in Digital Innovations
• IP management life cycle

Moderator: Malcolm Bain

12:30 - 13:30    Lunch and networking

13:30 - 15:00    IP Management: good practices

Three experts, three different entities, three IP business models. What practices in a university, an RTO and a company makes the most out of IP?

In this session Adele Calamo Specchia (ASML), David Maes (KULeuven) and Vincent Ryckaert (IMEC) will converge on differences and similarities in their IP DNA and explore the links between the daily practices. 

The session will feature three short presentations from each speaker about their IP business models, a fireside chat moderated by Jacek Plucinski (SnT) with plenty of space for questions and discussion from the audience.

13:30 - 15:00    Patent protection strategies

This session will dive into a range of patent protection strategies, discussing practical decision-making challenges encountered daily by KT professionals as they seek to implement effective patent strategies.

The first speaker will showcase the approach of a knowledge transfer centre simultaneously running the patent portfolios of several research universities in Germany. What are the decision-making criteria? Are there different drivers for each institution? What tools are used and how are patent budgets managed? Are there hard “drop dead moments” by which time a partner to share the costs and development of the patent has to be found? All this and more will be exchanged with participants demonstrating that while there is no magic bullet for such decision-making, there are many useful lessons to be learned. 

Our second speaker will provide insight and guidance into managing decision-making in KT using the Unitary Patent system. In addition to transition planning for existing patent portfolios, new filings are also to be considered. The EPO has also recently published a detailed analysis of the trends, developments and usage of the UPC, which may provide further useful insights for participants. Our presenter from Marks and Clerk represents a firm with decades of close collaboration with KT offices, advising many universities on the patent portfolios across many different sectors

Speakers: Nestor Rodriguez, Richard Gibbs and Paul Chapman

15:00 - 17:30    Coffee and networking

15:30 - 17:00    Plenary session: Patent teamwork

Patent teamwork: a panel discussion. 

The multi-professional interplay leading from research results to protecting an innovative business.

This session is intended to explore the interplay between different professional specialisms, such as: Researcher and Inventor, IP and Business Developer, and the Patent Attorney required to shape and execute patent protection and strengthen the value proposition of research results.

Speakers: Giuseppe Visimberga, Nienke Lubben, Andrew Spencer

Moderator: Laura MacDonald

19:00 - 22:00    Networking dinner

09:00 - 10:30    Plenary Session: No IP, free IP, easy IP

No IP, free IP, easy IP: a dream or a nightmare? 

Explore Open Innovation and other models of IP access.

Speaker: Anette Poulsen Miltoft

Moderator: Christophe Haunold

10:30 - 11:00    Coffee and networking

11:00 - 12:30    Workshop: Societal readiness level in practice (with focus on IP module)

11:00 - 12:30    Discussion: IP in collaborations

This interactive panel discussion with KTO managers/lawyers and corporate lawyers on IP management and challenges with IP in joint academia-industry agreements and projects.

Speakers: Ilse van Eijk-Ozgur (ASML), Mauro Lattuada

12:30 - 13:30    Lunch

13:30 - 14:15    Plenary: Impact Licensing

14:15 - 15:00    Plenary: Navigating IP challenges and opportunities in AI

Navigating IP challenges and opportunities in AI: Patentability and inventorship for AI-driven innovations

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionise industries, it also profoundly impacts the intellectual property landscape. This presentation delves into the intricate intersection of AI and patent law, emphasising European and US perspectives. Join us for a hands-on exploration of the patentability of AI innovations, the intricacies of attributing inventorship when AI systems drive innovation, and the strategic choices on whether to disclose AI-related inventions or maintain confidentiality.

We will provide practical insights, real-world examples, and actionable guidance for navigating this dynamic landscape effectively.

Speaker: David Lesthaeghe