On October 22nd, 2019 Polotsk State University hosted a National Workshop on Intellectual Property Management in Modern Conditions organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) together with the National Intellectual Property Centre and Polotsk State University.
In his welcoming speech, University Rector Dmitry Lazovsky emphasized the high relevance of the topic saying that the protection of artistic freedom in science and education is the key to today’s social development. PSU academic staff pays great attention to the topic of intellectual property at university: the course “Introduction to Intellectual Property Management” is taught and the manual “Intellectual Property Right” has been published here.
Mr. Mikhal Shvantner, Head of the Department for Transition and Developed Countries at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), thanked the university administration, researchers, lecturers and students attending the workshop. He was pleased to visit one of the oldest universities in Eastern Europe that is engaged in the process of including the Republic of Belarus in the pan-European context.
Vladimir Ryabovolov, General Director of the National Intellectual Property Centre, mentioned 2 main ideas. The ancient Polotsk land was the source of Belarusian statehood, and holding such a seminar at PSU continues this tradition. The development of Intellectual Property in the Republic of Belarus is one of the main directions according to the strategic plan of our country development.
An award ceremony of the annual student competition in the field of intellectual property was followed by welcoming comments. Daria Borisevich, a 4th-year student of the Faculty of Business and Law at Belarusian State Agricultural Academy, is the winner in the nomination “The Best Diploma Paper”. Maria Shmatova, a 4th-year student of the Faculty of Law at Belarusian State University, is the winner in the nomination “The Best Course Paper”. Anastasia Bobkova, a student of the Faculty of Law at Polotsk State University, is the winner in the nomination “The Best Article”.
Following the award ceremony, the participants of the seminar gave their presentations.
Mr. Mikhal Shvantner presented his paper on the topic “Current WIPO Projects to Promote Innovative Development”. Special attention was paid to personnel affairs, i.e. there is a significant lack of specialists in both fields: the protection of intellectual property and its use for the benefit of the state, enterprise, educational or scientific institution. Lawyers have been protecting the rights of IP owners for hundreds of years, but now specialists that actively use IP in economy and trade are becoming increasingly relevant. Such specialists have to help establishments and even the state to figure out how to use IP objects in their projects. Mr. Mikhal Shvantner invited everyone to participate in the courses held by WIPO.
Mr. Nedelko Miloslavovich, Director of the Centre for Technology Transfer, gave a talk on “Necessary Conditions for Effective Intellectual Property Management in Universities and Research Institutes”. He described the stages of work in the commercialization process and of innovative developments implementation in production, including the BOSS system, to facilitate interaction between representatives of science and education systems and business.
PhD in Engineering, Associate Professor at the Department of Computing Systems and Networks, Dmitry Glukhov talked about the situation of Intellectual Property at PSU. The university research staff creates IP objects in both engineering and humanitarian fields. These are unique artefacts, inventions in machine engineering, neural networks, virtual reality and artificial intelligence that are used in the form of texts, devices, software programs and hardware. Dmitry Glukhov gave many examples of innovations created at PSU and noted that to simplify the commercialization of intellectual property the university serves as a platform for selling innovations and software applications.
Mr. Nedelko Miloslavovich also talked about conflicts resolution concerning IP when cooperating with other researchers.
Daria Lando, Associate Professor at the Department Civil Law at BSU, described the current conditions to develop Intellectual Property Policy in universities and research institutes. According to the programmes accepted in our country we continue to improve the juridical base, train specialists and develop the appropriate infrastructure.
Evgeny Sesitsky, Program Officer at the Department for Transition and Developed Countries, presented his article “Promoting IP Policy Development: Ten Questions Method” and offered the IP policy development methodology.
The workshop ended with a discussion of different issues concerning the intellectual property application and its commercialization.
The seminar participants shared their impressions.
Mr. Mikhal Shvantner noted that the intellectual property is one of the driving forces in modern life. What’s interesting that its role has increased in the last 30 years. He enjoyed visiting Polotsk State University.
Vladimir Ryabovolov expressed his confidence in great potential of Polotsk land. Polotsk State University as a science and education centre working together with plants and factories of Polotsk and Novopolotsk has great opportunities. Besides, in terms of IP management the research at the university is underestimated and has great prospects. V. Ryabovolov wished the students to take risks, be brave and remember “to err is human”.
Pavel Mishin
Photos by Polina Kosarevskaya