On October 22 – 24, 2019, two highly important events took place in Belarus. On October 22, a national seminar “Intellectual Property Management in Modern Economic and Technological Conditions” took place at Polotsk State University. On October 23-24, a regional seminar “Intellectual Property Policy for Universities and Research Institutions” took place at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, where experts discussed the role of intellectual property in the higher education system and Belarusian economy.
The participants of the seminar were representatives of different countries including Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Finland and the Czech Republic. Our university was represented by Head of the Scientific Research Department Tatsiana Goncharova, Head of the Department of Civil Law Vladimir Bogonenko and Senior Lecturer of the Department of Civil Law Kristina Savitskaya.
At the beginning of the seminar, the participants were welcomed by Vladimir Gusakov, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor, Mikhal Shvantner, Head of the Department for Transition and Developed Countries of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Vladimir Ryabovolov, General Director of the National Intellectual Property Centre.
The WIPO representatives gave interesting presentations on intellectual property. Mikhal Shvantner in his report “The Importance of Intellectual Property Policy for Universities and Research Institutions” said that each university must have Policy Statement on Intellectual Property. This document is to encourage more participation in intellectual property and to regulate all the necessary procedures.
Evgeny Sesitsky, Program Officer at the Department for Transition and Developed Countries at WIPO, in his report “Intellectual Property Policy Development Support in Universities and Scientific Institutes: a WIPO Tool” focused on WIPO support to universities of the Republic of Belarus to develop intellectual property policy.
Ivan Bliznets, Rector of Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property, Doctor of Law, Professor, talked about “Implementation of Intellectual Property Policy in Russian Universities and Intellectual Property Education”. The main point of his report was the importance of the visit of Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, to Belarus. The performer marked the necessity of developing Policy Statements on Intellectual Property in each university.
Director of Research Institute for Physical Chemical Problems of Belarusian State University, Yury Nechepurenko, in his report “Current Practice and Problems Related to the Institutional Policy Development in the Sphere of Intellectual Property in Belarusian Universities” spoke about two main issues: the educational system development and the policy of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus.
In his report, the speaker emphasized that there is no single policy statement on intellectual property in universities. At the same time, every fifth patent for an invention comes from the university system of Belarus. The speaker pointed out the necessity of carrying out workshops for university specialists in the sphere of intellectual property commercialization.
The seminar was full of interesting presentations concerning mostly intellectual property policy development. Foreign guests were glad to share their experience with other participants.
It is highly necessary to point out the fact that PSU is recognized as one of the leading universities of the Republic of Belarus in the sphere of intellectual property management and commercialization of intellectual property objects, which was also mentioned at the seminars held by WIPO.
It is worthy of note that PSU representatives (Head of Scientific Research Department Tatyana Goncharova, Head of the Department of Civil Law Vladimir Bogonenko, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Civil Law Kristina Savitskaya) are the members of the team that works on intellectual property policy in higher educational establishments and scientific organizations.
Some international and republic scientific and practical events in the sphere of intellectual property are planned for this academic year. Lecturers and students of the PSU Law Faculty can participate too.
Vladimir Bogonenko, Head of the Department of Civil Law