The Conference "Intellectual Property for the European Union in a World of Challenges", 19 and 20 February 2020
Fourth industrial revolution and digital economy impose new challenges on the European entrepreneurs, especially on small and medium-sized enterprises; this calls for rethinking of the European and global system of protecting intellectual property rights. To this effect, the State Intellectual Property Office organised the conference on behalf of the Croatian presidency in cooperation with the European Commission, the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization, titled Intellectual Property for the European Union in the World of Challenges, held on 19 and 20 February 2020 in Zagreb.
Being one of the drivers of innovation and creativity, system of intellectual property rights needs to be constantly adapted to the technological and societal changes in order to (further) underpin investments in innovations and research and thus boost the competitiveness of the European industry, and small and medium-sized enterprises in particular. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute significantly to economic growth and social stability of the European Union. However, despite many efforts already invested in providing support to the SMEs by the EU’s and Member States’ institutions and programs, only a small share of the European SMEs uses intellectual property system and benefits from it. Thus, the conference was intended to open a discussion in order to find a missing link and to contrive appropriate actions for more efficient raising awareness of the importance of intellectual property protection and empowering of the SMEs to efficiently manage their intellectual property. Such a support to small and medium-sized enterprises is one of the key priorities of Croatian presidency in the field of intellectual property.
Also, to ensure that intellectual property system is fit for purpose, its development should be considered in the context of future European Union industrial strategy and other related policies. At this conference we reviewed how well aligned are current and considered European and global initiatives regarding the intellectual property system with the European Union industrial strategy, and what steps need to be taken.
Furthermore, the conference examined the role of intellectual property in achieving greener Europe and in addressing European and global green issues.
Finally, since today’s digital economy is critically relying on data, which demands an adequate response from the intellectual property system, the conference also instigated discussions about the relationship between the growing importance of the data economy and the protection of intellectual property, development and importance of copyright infrastructure and the role and challenges of trade secrets protection for business in digital environment.
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DAY 1 - February 19, 2020
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DAY 2 - February 20, 2020
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