Sustainable innovation dialogue: Exploring the relationship between IP and climate change innovation

IP5-sustainable innovation event image showing windmill, wind turbines and solar panels in tropical settings.

This half-day interactive program brought together a diverse group of intellectual property (IP) stakeholders and government officials engaged in wide-ranging discussions on incentivizing, protecting, and commercializing climate-related innovations.

The program featured leaders of the world’s five largest IP offices—the IP5—as well as representatives from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), industry, and the local Hawaiian innovation community. It included sessions on:

  • Perspectives on climate change from the IP5 offices, an in-depth discussion of the IP5 offices’ initiatives to encourage patent filings in climate technologies, streamline examination, and undertake eco-friendly efforts, such as paperless filing and energy efficiency.
  • Perspectives on bringing climate-related innovation to market, where representatives of industry, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and local start-ups describe what it takes to bring climate change technologies from research to the marketplace.
  • Perspectives on the challenges in climate-related innovation, a discussion of IP-related challenges faced by underrepresented groups and the specific needs of SMEs and startups in this space.

Scheduled presenters were:

  • Mr. Antonio Campinos, President of the European Patent Office
  • Mr. Hamano Koichi, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office
  • Dr. Lee Insil, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office
  • Dr. Shen Changyu, Commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration
  • Ms. Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office

This public program immediately preceded the 16th annual meeting of the IP5 Heads of Office, which was hosted by the USPTO in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 14. The IP5 offices—the European Patent Office, the Japan Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the China National IP Administration, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)—are the five largest patent offices in the world. The theme for this year’s IP5 Heads of Office meeting was “Addressing climate change through an accessible and inclusive IP system,” with a focus on the importance of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

A video of this event is now available.

Agenda

 

Additional information

For more information, visit the registration page or contact Hollis.Robinson@uspto.gov in the USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs.

This virtual program is hosted by the USPTO’s Global Intellectual Property Academy, a unit of the USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA). The office advises the administration and other federal government departments and agencies on domestic and international IP legal and policy issues. It also provides technical assistance and training on IP-related matters to U.S. stakeholders and both U.S. and foreign government officials.

Accessibility accommodation

Accessibility

If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please submit your request to the contact information listed above.

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