Intellectual Property event for SMEs, big business and academics

FOR most firms, their intellectual property (IP) is much more valuable than their bricks and mortar.  But these intangible assets – that can include patents, brands, websites, designs and company names – are often overlooked or ill-managed.  Now, an event at the University of Huddersfield will enable companies and researchers to make the most of their ideas and expertise.

Taking place on Tuesday, 4 December, the three-hour workshop has been organised by the University’s IP and Commercialisation Manager, Paul Field, and will be conducted by experts from the UK Government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

Attendance is free and places can be reserved online.  To make the most of the event, participants are asked to complete in advance the IPO’s short online course titled IQ Equip.

The University of Huddersfield session will give participants an overview of intellectual property and has been designed for a wide range of stakeholders, including SMEs and academics interested in applying their research.

Participants will form small teams and be presented with a series of scenarios in which intellectual property is crucial to a business.  Once the teams have debated a scenario, an IPO speaker will then talk through solutions to the issue.

Special booklets will be provided alongside other relevant literature relating to the course content.

Mr Field said that the workshop was an ideal opportunity for the University to develop new collaborations with regional business.  “It is also a chance for the IPO to talk to a lot of smaller businesses in the area about auditing intellectual property, finding intellectual property they didn’t know was there and then creating value from it,” he added.

At the close of the workshop, a new University of Huddersfield course for postgraduates – enabling them to make the most of their ideas and research – will be launched.

Named Evalu8, it is based on scheme successful run by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and by Cambridge University.

“Evalu8 allows postgraduate students to work with real inventions and product designs to determine the best route for their commercialisation, and to present the results to a diverse audience of business and academic experts, “said Mr Field.  The scheme will begin in 2019.