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3rd IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference on March 24-27, 2021

04 February 2021

3rd IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference on March 24-27, 2021

The Third IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference organized by the IPIRA Network is going online from March 24 – 27, 2021.

With almost 600 members all over the world, the IPIRA Network connects teachers and researchers studying and writing about innovation-related topics and IP.

The IPIRA Conference, now on its third edition, serves as a platform for them to discuss their research work with policymakers, officials from international organizations and other researchers and academicians.  As such, doors for collaborations, assistance and support will open, furthering the advancement of research in the region and beyond.

“Asia is fast rising in the IP world. The success of China, Korea and Japan creates a ripple effect to other countries within the region. The increase in demand in IP literacy oversees the corollary growth of IP academics. To fuel the need to be in touch with the latest development on IP laws and trends across the region, the organizers felt that it is ripe to organize the IPIRA Conference,” said Ida Madieha Abdul Ghani Azmi, professor at the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International University Malaysia.

Featured topics include IP as a channel to promote economic development and R&D, disruptive technologies such as AI, IP management and valuation, regulation of standard essential patents, national agricultural policies and methodologies of research on IP, among others.

The impact of Covid 19, treatment and access to vaccines will also be tackled.

“The law and policy of IP intersect with an ever more diverse range of public policy and development issues, and this translates into a need for ever more diverse analysis and scholarship, within and beyond the traditional scope of IP law,” said Antony Taubman, director of the IP, government procurement and competition division of the WTO. “We have had a compelling reminder of this over the past year - as we wrestle with the challenges of creating vaccines and new treatments to address the Covid-19 pandemic, and making sure that these are swiftly and equitably made available to people across the globe, the role of a balanced and well‑functioning IP system has come under close and critical review.  More generally, the need for careful attention to the interaction between the IP system and public health policy has been a critical issue for many years.”

Martha Chikowore, counsellor at the WIPO Academy said they expect IPscholars to turn challenges into innovative solutions due to the pandemic. “Some of the solutions will provide unlimited teaching, training methodologies and best practices on transforming students’ educational achievements for IP. We expect that organizers will encourage all presenters to come up with more innovative and effective techniques for delivering the presentations and engaging with the participants,” she said.

According to Azmi, IP from a development perspective is particularly relevant for researchers, academicians and lawyers from Asia. “The trajectory of economic growth in Asia differs from the European and American world,” she said. “Whilst it is good to learn the IP policies that are in place in the developed world, it is also worthwhile to develop policies more relevant to Asian culture, politics and economic needs.”

For Agust Sardjono, professor at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia, emphasis should also be placed on the idea that IPRs should not be profit oriented. Instead, they should be used to solve humanitarian problems.

More than 150 papers will be presented while participation will come from all over Asia, North America and Europe. Thanks to the online format, some scholars from Africa and South America will also be attending this year.

“If anything, the challenge of the conference is to continue to be both inclusive—so that many scholars can present and receive feedback from peers—and not too large,” said Irene Calboli, professor at the Texas A&M University School of Law and visiting scholar at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “One of the most important features is that it mixes senior and junior scholars with policymakers as well as scholars from different regions of Asia and the world.” Calboli was instrumental in the formation of the IPIRA Network.

Taubman added that new scholarship from Asia now demonstrates a greater capacity for critical analysis and development of policy lessons from the practical experience of countries in the region. “There is a stronger information basis and a foundation for mutual learning among developing countries in the region, in contrast with a past reliance on scholarship based in developed countries with longer established IP systems,” he explained.

The Third IPIRA Conference will also feature Virtual Lunch Breaks, Virtual Dinners, Virtual Gala Dinner and Virtual Receptions using certain features of Zoom.

“We have all learned a lot over the past year about how to make such digital events more ‘real’ and inclusive for the participants,” said Taubman. “We do hope that the virtual social activities will also help to bridge the gaps and to enable the kind of networking and informal dialogue to flourish despite the limitations of experiencing a conference conducted via the exchange of packages of data on line.”

The conferenceis organized by the IPIRA Network in cooperation with the WIPO Academy, WTO and academic institutions around the world.

 

Espie Angelica A. de Leon


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