[Guest post] Conference Report: Fourth IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia Conference

It is that time of the year once again - Katfriend Irene Calboli provides IPKat readers with a summary of the Fourth IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference. The previous three IPIRA conference reports can be viewed here, here and here. 

Below is what Irene writes:

Conference Report: Fourth IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia Conference

by Irene Calboli

What a great start to 2022 for IP enthusiasts! 

On February 9-12, 2022, IP & Innovation Research of Asia (IPIRA) Network hosted the Fourth IPIRA Conference in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the following academic institutions: the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University Malaysia; Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia; Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University; Texas A&M University School of Law; and the Faculty of Law, University of Geneva. The Conference was additionally supported by a group of distinguished academic institutions in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. 

IPIRA is an initiative created to provide a forum for IP academics and researchers to present and discuss their papers and works-in-progress. Like previous years, this year the IPIRA Conference provided a forum for intellectual exchanges between researchers interested in IP and Innovation law. This year again, the organizers were proud to welcome researchers from all nationalities and levels of seniority to meet and discuss their works-in-progress. 

The Fourth IPIRA Conference was opened with a keynote presentation delivered by Hasan Kleib, Deputy Director General, Regional and National Development Sector, World Intellectual Property Office, which focused on the topic “WIPO post-Covid response,” and a keynote presentation delivered by Annabel Gonzalez, Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization, titled “Rethinking trade and IP: Lessons from the Covid crisis.” 

Spread over 4 days to accommodate many exciting topics and parallel sessions, over 160 presenters from all over the world logged in to experience upcoming Intellectual Property law scholarship. Presenters had the opportunity to present under many exciting broad themes ranging from IP and investments to Traditional Knowledge, patents, biotechnology and medicines, copyright and culture, IP and competition, plant varieties and compulsory licensing and IP and Covid-19 medicines. These sessions were chaired by renowned and distinguished IP scholars and officials from WIPO and WTO. 

The Fourth IPIRA Conference also featured two plenary sessions, one focusing on “New Technologies and the Future of Intellectual Property Management,” and the other focusing on “The Role of Intellectual Property for Sustainable Development”. Marco Aleman, Assistant Director General of the IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector at WIPO participated in first plenary, and Mr. Edward Kwakwa, Assistant Director General of the Global Challenges and Partnerships Sector at WIPO, participated in the second plenary. 

The full program of the Fourth IPIRA Conference can be found here and the abstracts here. 

Plenary 2

Plenary 3

Additional highlights of the Conference were the online brunch discussion on topics like “Publication Best Practices”, “Academic Mentorship and Networks,” and “Challenges of Online Teaching.” These sessions proved to be an engaging break and enriched the scholarship discussion with useful suggestions regarding various academic practices. 

Despite being held online for the second year in a row, the Fourth IPIRA Conference was again a very successful event! With an online reception and a fabulous cultural performance, the Conference left participants asking for more. A newly recorded song authored by professor Agus Sardjono was the perfect ending four days of academic discourse and exchanges. 

The IPIRA Network very much looks forward to hosting everyone again, hopefully in person, at the Fifth IPIRA Conference in 2023! Information and venue will follow in late summer.

Photos by Prof. Irene Calboli