N. 38, April - June  2008  

Editorial 
Let's open the university!
Ignasi Labastida i Juan
 
Last March, Barcelona hosted the spring conference of the European University Association (EUA), an association with 791 members in 46 countries across Europe. More than 300 rectors attended the meeting at the University of Barcelona, which received wide coverage in the media. However, the resolutions adopted there did not receive much attention. Among them was the set of recommendations on open access for scientific knowledge, approved then by the EUA Council. Those recommendations aim to raise awareness of the importance of the open access issue within the university community, both in terms of its impact upon...
 
IP & RTD: Articles 
 
  Consortium agreement models for FP7 participants
Theo Stamatiadis
The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) is well under way. Many consortia have already responded to calls for proposals published by the European Commission, some have already signed their consortium agreements, while others are in the process of negotiation or will be entering negotiations shortly. Most of them, probably a large majority,...
 
 
  User satisfaction with OHIM rises
Reg Rea
For the third year running, OHIM has commissioned a User Satisfaction Survey (USS) designed to measure the perceived quality of its service and how different activities of the Office contribute to “global satisfaction”. ...
 
  IdeaPilot-project – good practices in bringing IP-system to SMEs use
Mika Waris
After having practised active training for SMEs for more than 8 years as well as marketing and delivering search and advisory services to SMEs, National Board of Patents and Registration in Finland started a new approach in order to enhance the use and utilization of the IP-system among SMEs. We started a project called IdeaPilot...
 
 
 
  Giving the World’s IP a Marketplace: The New Role of Trading Exchanges for Intellectual Property (Part II)
Roya Ghafele, Ph.D.
The innovation of a trading exchange needs to lie in its business model, not the technology it uses. In this sense, an IP trading exchange can be compared to a network business since it aims to move international information on IP. Says Andy Gibbs, owner of Patentcafe, an online international patent search engine: “When HP was looking...
 
 
IP in practice 
 
  Patent of the month
 
Perhaps you have heard or read about Plumpy'Nut® : a high energy mixture of food that is distributed as a therapeutic food for underfed children in countries facing severe malnutrition crises. What you may not know are its innovation and industrial property aspects. Indeed, this emergency care product, which is manufactured by the French...
 
 
  esp@cenet Quiz
 
This article describes a new type of electronic cigarette that pretends to be legal even if used indoor: ...
 
  IP eModules
 
For a long time, patents were the preserve of specialists rarely making the headlines. This situation has dramatically changed in recent years. Patents are often quoted in various contexts and are in many cases decried by some interest groups. In addition, the globalisation of our economies causes the emergence of new players that are...
 
 
 

 
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