Registration Opens for WIPO’s Third Executive Program on Strategic Intellectual Property Management

Geneva, June 1, 2007
PR/2007/494

Business managers, senior executives and corporate strategists can, from June 1, 2007, register on-line at www.wipo.int/academy/en/execed  to participate in another session of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) executive program on strategic intellectual property (IP) management, which will be held at WIPO headquarters, in Geneva, from September 17 to 19, 2007.

Intellectual property (IP) is a valuable corporate asset and a strategic business tool and its increasing significance is forcing business organizations to actively manage IP as a key driver for building and sustaining competitive advantage. IP management has emerged as a major area of business competence that is as important as understanding innovation, technology, marketing, finance, corporate governance, industrial economics and strategy. This intensive program for senior executives is an opportunity for business decision-makers to gain valuable insights into how to leverage IP strategically to create value and sustain competitive advantage over time in a rapidly changing technological and commercial environment.

Academics and senior executives from leading business schools, corporate organizations and WIPO will share unique insights and experiences on strategic IP management using lectures, case studies, best practices and group discussions. Participants will have an opportunity to learn from each other, share experiences, reflect and apply the principles and practices of IP management in their respective business environments.

Faculty members include:

• Mr. James Conley, Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Chicago, whose research focuses on strategic use of intangible assets and intellectual properties to build and sustain competitive advantage. Professor Conley also engineers product design and development technologies and teaches courses on Innovation Process Management, Intellectual Capital Management, and other related subjects to both graduate student and executive education audiences.
• Mr. Tony Hadjiloucas, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, London, specializes in providing valuation and royalty rate determination advice in connection with patents, brands and branded businesses, know-how, software, trade secrets and other intangible assets for commercial, litigation and financial reporting purposes. He will examine ways of using brand identity to reinforce market value.

• Mr. Jay Deshmukh, Corporate Senior Vice President, Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited directs the company’s global intellectual property strategy from Princeton, New Jersey. He will share his thoughts and experiences on worldwide patent litigation and patent prosecution and U.S. trademark prosecution and FDA legal matters.

• Mr. Donal O’Connell, Director of IPR, Nokia will bring to the class his long and varied experience in the global wireless telecommunications industry. He has been at Nokia for 18 years and his responsibilities have included leading and managing the Nokia R&D centre in Texas and designing, developing and launching numerous successful products to the market-place.

• Senior executives from WIPO and the Procter and Gamble Company will also be on site to share their thoughts and experiences on IP management during power lunch and dinner sessions.

The course will cover the following components:

• Intellectual Property (IP) viewed as a management option
• IP, innovation and technology management
• IP and marketing
• IP and finance
• Strategic use of WIPO’s global IP protection and dispute resolution systems
• IP strategy in global corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• Case examples from healthcare, information technology, automobile, entertainment, media & food ingredients, consumer durable, agro-products and luxury goods industries.

For full course details and to register for the course, please go to www.wipo.int/academy/en/execed or contact the WIPO Worldwide Academy directly at 34, Chemin des Colombettes, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland Tel: (41-22) 338 9111; Fax: (41-22) 740 1417; E-mail: execed.academy@wipo.int.