IPTEC international conference

A three-day international conference to assist companies and organisations develop their technology transfer business will take place in Cannes, France, from 28 February to 2 March. IPTEC 2007 will cover a range of topics including patent acquisition, corporate/university opportunities, cross-cultural negotiations and cross-industry partnering.

Key topics will be covered in presentations by leading experts. Notable speakers at the conference include Marshall Phelps, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of IP (intellectual property) & Licensing, Microsoft; Jeff Skinner of University College London and President of the European Technology Transfer Association; Jaime Siegel, Senior Intellectual Property Counsel for the Sony Corporation; and Mike Addison and Nigel Trotman from Procter & Gamble.

Frank M. Salzgeber, acting Head of ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office will address the conference on the subject of “Space for business”. As a research organisation in the innovative sector of aerospace, ESA has a large portfolio of technology and extensive experience of their management.

Over the years, a vast number of advanced technologies, originally developed by ESA for its space application, have successfully found their way into the non-space sector providing innovative and profitable solutions for business.

Last year ESA received the IPTEC award for achievement in the public sector, for its technology transfer activities, which has resulted in over 200 successful transfers in the past 17 years. It has also led to the set up of 30 new companies in Europe.

Key players in the field of technology transfer, including representatives of multinational companies, SMEs, research centres and universities are expected to attend the conference as well as experts in intellectual property and technology transfer from across Europe, Australia, Canada, China, Japan and the USA.

Workshops on strategies for business development for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will take place during the conference with case studies focussing on shared experience and trans-national technology transfer. These will include a workshop on trans-national tech transfer as a business development opportunity for SMEs to be chaired by Peter Wolfmeyer, Managing Director of ZENIT GmbH and a leading member of the North-Rhine Westphalia’s Innovation Relay Centres network.

Companies, research institutes and universities will also have an opportunity to present their innovative technologies at the New Technology Presentations Exhibition which will take place throughout the conference.

A complete up-to-date conference programme can be downloaded at the conference website (www.iptec-cannes.com) together with information on how to participate.

The mission of the Technology Transfer Programme Office is to facilitate the use of space technology and space systems for non-space applications and to further demonstrate the benefit of the European Space Programme to the European citizens.