ECCK Successfully Hosts 8th ‘IPR Conference 2020’

ECCK's IPR Committee has successfully hosted its 8th 'IPR Conference 2020'

ECCK News

On September 23, ECCK organized its eighth annual IPR Conference. Taking note of the EU’s Green Deal and the Korean New Deal, this year’s event focused on IP’s potential to help realize plans for a sustainable, greener future. With participants from around the world, the first virtual IPR Conference was a great success.

The IPR Conference was started by welcome remarks from Mr. Dirk Lukat, ECCK’s Chairperson. This was followed by opening remarks from H.E. Maria Castillo Fernandez, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Korea, Mr. Carlo Pandolfi, Director of International Cooperation at the European Patent Office (EPO), Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and Mr. Yeonwoo Jung, Director General of the Intellectual Property Protection & International Cooperation Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

An important step in reaching a sustainable, greener future is the introduction of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are, in the words of the UN, “the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice”. As the SDGs were launched in September 2015, this year’s IPR Conference tied in with the SDG’s fifth anniversary. Ms. Amy Dietterich, Director of the Global Challenges Division at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) addressed the role intellectual property plays and achieving the SDGs.

Building further on Ms. Dietterich’s presentation, Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) discussed about how IPR can be leveraged in the interest of a greener future. In his presentation Dr. Rijsberman shared an overview of the IP regimes used in various initiatives to guarantee the contribution of IP to sustainability and avoid it turning into an impediment. As alternatives to the ‘standard IPR regime’ as can be found in the TRIPS agreement, he mentioned the Global Access Policy as used by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation allowing a price differentiation between developed developing world markets for licenses, as well as technical assistance to support tech transfer in developing and emerging economies.

In light of the need for enhanced sustainability, on December 11, 2019, the EU presented its European Green Deal, a roadmap for making the EU's economy sustainable by turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities across all policy areas and making the transition just and inclusive for all. Mr. Benoit Lory, Minister Counsellor at the Trade & Economy Section of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Korea, addressed the role IP takes in the European Green Deal. After explaining the main pillars of the initiative, Mr. Lory discussed the development and deployment of green technologies and digital transition as well as how the efficiency of the EU’s IP system can be improved.

In addition to the EU, Korea announced a Green New Deal on July 14, 2020. Ms. Ara Cho, Deputy Director at the International Cooperation Division of the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), explained the aspects of the Korean New Green Deal and how such affects innovation. Ms. Cho further provided a comparison between Korea, the US, Japan and China on a number of key IP metrics as well as a number of insights in seeking IP protection for green technologies protections.

Providing some direct insights from industry, the IPR Conference continued with a presentation on Innovative Green Technology Solutions by Mr. Andreas Fischer, Technical Bid Manager at Vestas. Mr. Fischer explained the operation of Vestas, a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines with a 75 year history in the field. Key to the company’s ability to bring sustainability solutions to market faster has been the adoption of ‘modularity’, through which standard modules are combined into new products, increasing product variety per number of components.

In his presentation Mr. Fischer indicated that new innovations have allowed the wind turbines to produce an increased amount of Megawatts. The European Patent Office and the International Energy Agency have recently published a jointly study on innovation in batteries and electricity storage, underlining the key role that battery innovation is playing in the transition to clean energy technologies. Mr. Ilja Rudyk, Senior Economist at the European Patent Office (EPO) spoke about the main findings of such study, including the presence of particular countries’ national champions in certain segments of batteries.

In the final presentation of the IPR Conference, Mr. Jae-Hyun Park, IP Agreement Counsel at Solvay spoke Solvay’s participation in various initiatives aimed to propel crucial innovation. Tying in with the presentations by Vestas and EPO, Mr. Park explained Solvay’s innovations in the field of next generation batteries as well as its involvement in the European Battery Alliance as well as projects such as Cobalt-Free Solutions for Batteries (CoFBAT) and NAIMA aimed at developing new Na-ion cells to accelerate the European Energy Transition.

In his closing remarks Mr. Sven-Erik Batenburg, Director of Legal & International Affairs at ECCK, summarized that it is clear that industry has a crucial role to play in achieving a sustainable future. As shown throughout the IPR Conference, companies have taken various initiatives to develop innovative solutions either by itself or in cooperation with partners. A repeating aspect in the presentations was that in order to stimulate industry’s wish to innovate it is of fundamental importance that innovation is adequately protected. This includes both the assurance of protection under the IP systems that are in place, as well as the realization that certain structural improvements may be necessary in order to also offer protection for non-traditional innovations which may fall outside of the scope of the existing systems.

In conclusion IP is a corner stone of the foundation of a sustainable green future for the benefit of all.

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