Record Number of WIPO Summer School Participants
July 28, 2020
This year has seen a record 1,200 participants in the online editions of the WIPO Summer Schools. The participants joined the four online summer schools held with George Mason University in the United States of America (USA), University of Geneva (UNIGE) in Switzerland, the International Intellectual Property Training Institute (IIPTI) in the Republic of Korea, and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) alongside the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico. The WIPO - Mexico Summer School, which was conducted in Spanish, alone welcomed nearly 900 participants.
Moving online
Following the postponement of most of the WIPO Academy 2020 Summer Schools as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was taken - in consultation with partners – to offer a limited number of summer schools online. Moving the summer schools from face-to-face to online delivery enabled the Academy to respond to the continuing demand from young professionals and graduates for an intensive and interactive two-week intellectual property (IP) education program. It also provided the WIPO Academy and its partners an opportunity to determine whether summer schools could be designed and delivered successfully in an online format. Thanks to all the hard work of the Academy’s partners, the initial assessment and feedback of the online experience has been very positive.
One of the main benefits of the online delivery of the programs is the flexibility this format offers to participants to take part in summer schools without the costs of travel. The quality of teaching and the educational experience has remained at a very high level in online delivery as well. Based on the experience of the WIPO Summer Schools in 2020, the WIPO Academy will undertake a more detailed review with partners and using the lessons learned from it will make recommendations on the WIPO Summer Schools of 2021. In the future, the WIPO Academy will explore the possibility of offering both online and face-to-face summer schools.
WIPO-USA Summer School (June 8 to July 19)
Participants in the WIPO-USA Summer School engaged with IP experts and practitioners from the private sector and, through a series of lectures and interactive group work, helped build their knowledge and skills in the legal and practical aspects of the intellectual property system. Demand for places on the WIPO-USA Summer School have increased each year since the partnership with George Mason University began in 2018. As in previous years, the summer school attracted a high number of international participants, boosted further this year by the online format.
WIPO-UNIGE Summer School (June 22 to July 3)
The WIPO - University of Geneva (UNIGE) Summer School continues to build on its success and outstanding reputation as one of the WIPO Academy’s longest running summer schools, this year celebrating its 10th anniversary. To mark this occasion, the WIPO Academy and UNIGE organized a “Summer School Alumni and IP Careers” event, which was open to the program participants and the public at large. The event enabled summer school alumni to share their IP career experiences and to offer tips on how to apply the knowledge and skills gained from the summer school at work, and how to build a career in the field of IP.
WIPO-Korea Summer School (June 22 to July 3)
The WIPO-Korea Summer School has in previous years been an intensive residential experience with students from around the world attending the summer school at the IIPTI in Daejeon, often benefiting from scholarships offered by the Korean Intellectual Property Office through the Republic of Korea’s Funds-in-Trust for IP Education. This year, the summer school was offered online and almost 200 participants took advantage of the flexible format and the exemption from registration fees to benefit from a series of lectures and interactive sessions on IP.
WIPO-Mexico Summer School (July 6 to 17)
The WIPO-Mexico Summer School was the first to be offered online in Spanish. Over 900 academics, lawyers and young professionals interested or working in the creative industries participated from 26 countries. Leading experts from the private sector, WIPO, IMPI-Mexico, the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office led the online sessions.
Keynote speakers included Mr. Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director of the WIPO Academy, Mr. Ernesto Acevedo Fernández, Under-Secretary of Industry, Trade and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy of Mexico, Mr. Juan Lozano Tovar, Director General, IMPI-Mexico and Mr. Isaac Lucatero, Regional Director of the Instituto de Emprendimiento "Eugenio Garza Lagüera" of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.