2016

We are happy to announce that we have received funding from Vinnova for a new project on intellectual property management in digitalizing businesses. This project is part of a larger effort from the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation in Sweden, with help from Vinnova and PRV, to increase our knowledge about how to manage IP to improve our competitiveness.  Our project is one out of three research projects that will contribute in this effort.

The purpose of the research project is to explore and explain the role of IPM for various business strategies in order to create sustainable innovativeness and competitiveness in Swedish companies in connection to digitalization.

We will soon start the recruitment of a new PhD student who will work within this project, so please check back soon for more information on that.

Read more about the project here.

Two of our researchers, Ove Granstrand and Marcus Holgersson, recently presented some of their research at a seminar in Stockholm arranged by the IP consultancy firm Awapatent. The seminar focused on how technology-based startup firms can make use of patenting to support their businesses. Much of the seminar focused on the importance of patents for attracting venture capital. In addition to our researchers, the seminar also included discussions by venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and consultants.

Read more about the event here:
http://www.awapatent.com/en/news-archive/2016/october/patents-help-startups-raise-investment/
http://computersweden.idg.se/2.2683/1.666340/startup-patent-riskkapital

“I cannot reasonably argue that I own my face or my name,” comedian Stephen Colbert told his Late Show audience recently with mock seriousness. Colbert was publicly responding to a letter from Viacom that the Stephen Colbert cable news satire character was their intellectual property and not his.  Colbert went on to say that the Colbert character was gone forever but would now be replaced by his “identical twin cousin” also named Stephen Colbert, as explained here by Colbert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvkFkzpVYJ4

One of our researchers, Thomas Ewing, was interviewed about the case in The Takeaway, a US national morning radio show broadcast with Public Radio International and WNYC, with The New York Times and WGBH Boston. The program reaches more than 2 million listeners across 280 stations nationwide.

Listen to the interview here:

http://www.wnyc.org/story/stephen-colberts-television-persona-intellectual-property

The article “The importance of patents for innovation appropriation and open financing – A new view” by our researchers Marcus Holgersson and Ove Granstrand was selected as finalist for the best academic paper award at the R&D Management Conference at University of Cambridge, UK. The article investigates different strategies for appropriating value from innovations, and the role patents play for them. The article was announced as one of three finalists among more than 400 submissions at a reception at King’s College during the conference.

Two of our scholars, Marcus Holgersson and Frank Tietze, are organizing an inspirational teaching workshop on intellectual property management. The workshop will take place at University of Cambridge, UK, on Friday 16 September 2016. The workshop will gather both academics and practitioners from around the world who are involved in teaching the many aspects of intellectual property management, primarily to non-law students. The aim is to inspire each other and exchange best practices in IP management teaching. The workshop is by invitation only, but please contact Marcus Holgersson, if you are interested. 

Read more about the workshop here: http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/events/eitim/