Ateneo celebrates Intellectual Property Week 2022

From April 25-29, 2022, the Ateneo de Manila University through the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office (AIPO) celebrated the 2022 Intellectual Property (IP) Week. This was a week full of webinars and workshops for students, researchers, inventors, faculties, and staffs from the Ateneo community as well as other participants, young entrepreneurs, and start-up CEOs from different organizations and institutions.

The theme of this year’s Intellectual Property Week 2022, inspired by the World Intellectual Property Day 2022 is "IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future". This is why the weeklong celebration aimed to increase the general understanding of IP and highlight the role that IP rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity, particularly among youth and students. Also, IP week aimed to demystify IP for both entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs by discussing IP-related ideas as well as imparting practical advice on how to secure their IPs while they explore local and worldwide markets. 

The IP Week was held virtually and was composed of the following series of webinars:

April 25- IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future

April 26- How to make money from your Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

April 27- Design Thinking Workshop

April 28- Brand Selection

April 29- Copyrights for Students

The first event held on April 25, 2022, "IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future"  was presented by Atty Aileen V Sicat, former Head of Protection and Education Group (PEG) of AIPO. The webinar was attended by 177 participants who are composed of students, researchers, faculty, and entrepreneurs. The webinar encouraged innovation and creativity in young people through the demystification of IP rights and helped the participants gain a better understanding of how the tools of the IP system can support their ambitions to build a better future. 

The 2nd event was a session entitled "How to make money from your Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights", presented by Ms Vanessa Malapit MSc current Head of Protection and Education Group (PEG), and Mr Bryan Erfe, Business Development Officer of Commercialization and Incubation Group (CBIG) both from AIPO. The event was attended by 134 participants, mostly students and the rest are educators, inventors, and entrepreneurs who learned about different ways to generate income and earn profits from their works and creations.

The 3rd event was a "Design Thinking Workshop" conducted by Mr Steve Maverick Chaves RN MTM, Head of Ideation Support Group (ISG), and Ms Mariela Alcaparas MSc, Program Development Officer of AIPO. The workshop was attended by 120 online participants from the Ateneo community and different organizations and institutions. The design thinking process is a tool that helps in bridging the gap between the users and the innovators. During the workshop,  participants were taught how to carry out a human-centered methodology in solving wicked problems in the society. 

The 4th event was a hybrid session about "Brand Selection" which is presented by Ms Matec D Villanueva, the Director of Ateneo University Marketing and Communications Office (UMCO). The event was attended by 157 online participants and 21 onsite participants from the Ateneo community and other organizations and institutions. The discussion focused on the following: the importance of branding, the value of branding,  the importance of protecting one’s brand, success stories in branding, and some tips as to the basic do’s and don’ts when selecting a brand.

The fifth and last event for the IP week was held on April 29, 2022, which is entitled, "Copyrights for Students".  The talk was conducted by Dr Jon Fernandez, Director of the AIPO. Attended by 122 online participants who were mostly students, and faculties from the Ateneo community and other institutions, the session provided awareness and clear explanations on copyright-related concepts.

The IP Week was a huge success this year, with a significant number of participants taking part from both inside and beyond the Ateneo community. IP Week raised awareness of IP and highlighted the role of IP rights in stimulating innovation and creativity, not just among students and youth but among all those interested in it. Looking towards the future, the promotion and protection of IPs can create new jobs and industries that will help spur economic growth and help increase the quality of life. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to come up with a unique and beneficial idea, such as an innovation, product, mark, or brand, and the IP Week was a timely reminder of the need in protecting intellectual property rights to balance the interest of innovators and society for a better future.