Conference on intellectual property in education underlines the necessity to support innovation through education

A conference on “Intellectual Property in Education - tendencies and perspectives” took place in Sofia on 20 February 2018. Participants stressed the importance of open science and of the new approaches in education for bringing forth the next generation of inventors and creators.

The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic and demographic policy, Mr Valeri Simeonov, said:

“It is highly important to establish a proper attitude among the youngsters and young people towards intellectual property objects, in order to know how to defend them as intangible assets and how to derive a profit from them.”

The Director of the Observatory Mr Paul Maier thanked the Bulgarian government for its support. He underlined:

“While IP is not studied in many countries, IPR-intensive industries create more than 42 % of GDP and 28 % of jobs in the EU i. 87 % of Europeans think that the inventors should be rewarded for their efforts.”

The event was held under the auspices of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of EU and hosted by the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria in partnership with the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), through the Observatory on Infringements of IP Rights (the Observatory). It was attended by the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic and demographic policy, Mr Valeri Simeonov, the Deputy Minister for Education and Science Prof Ivan Dimov, the Director of the Observatory on Infringements of IP Rights Mr Paul Maier, and the President of the Bulgarian Patent Office Dr Petko Nikolov. Among the presenters were representatives of the EUIPO, from the Swedish National Agency for Education, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, the US National Inventors Hall of Fame, the Hellenic Copyright Organisation, the Modern Poland Foundation, various international agencies, Junior Achievement - Bulgaria and other institutions. The themes and discussions covered the latest tendencies in the development of intellectual property in education, including new models and approaches towards the teaching of entrepreneurship and IP in Bulgarian secondary schools.