Business decision-makers shared insight

The EPO and the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) jointly hosted the annual high-growth technology business conference last week. With expert presenters from five continents, the online event attracted a record number of over 740 people from almost 80 countries, including business decision-makers like C-suite executives (CEOs, CTOs, founders), IP professionals and SME stakeholders.

This year’s conference offered participants a unique opportunity to learn more about IP management standards for digital business, regionalisation and global growth, risk management and freedom-to-operate, or valuation of IP for debt financing. Attendees were able to meet with experts to seek advice on how these issues impact their business. According to Stephanie Weber from the European IP Helpdesk: “The 360° view on potential solutions to a variety of different IP and business-related challenges made sure that every participant had something to bring back to their organisations.”

The event covered a wide range of patent commercialisation related topics, such as business model disruption, open innovation, IP management standards, global growth, IP assessment, dept financing, risk management and freedom to operate. With the Unitary Patent due to launch in 2023, the topic interested attendees. EPO Chief Economist Yann Ménière pointed out that: “IP rights are key for small businesses to bring new technology to market, and the Unitary Patent will be a boost for them to scale up commercialisation in Europe”.

Thanks to more than 50 IP professionals offering their support pro bono, attendees also benefitted from the opportunity to participate in dedicated IP Business clinics, one-to-one mentoring sessions on IP business. More than 100 such sessions were arranged before, during and after the conference to give advice and indicate possible solutions to solve typical bottlenecks.

Recordings and key takeaways from the conference lectures will be published soon. Condensed summary videos and follow up publications will enrich the offers on epo.org/sme.