Webinar on Green Technologies
The Webinar - The Future of Planet Earth as the (Industrial) Property of All of Us - took place last April 26th, on the date that celebrates the World Intellectual Property Day.
Webinar on Green Technologies
INPI celebrated the World Intellectual Property Day by holding the Webinar ‘The Future of Planet Earth as the (Industrial) Property of All of Us’: a side event of the High-Level Conference ‘For a People-centred e-Justice’ which took place on April 26 and 27, within the scope of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
With the participation of national and international renowned speakers, and more than 70 attendees, this event aimed to provide a debate on the importance of protecting innovative solutions in the area of green technologies, especially for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as a means of promoting the development and economic growth of modern societies.
In the words of INPI’s President, Ana Bandeira, who opened the webinar, “we have the ability to manage our impact and rebuild the planet for a healthier and sustainable world. We need to act faster and find the best solutions in Industrial Property.”
Marion Dietterich of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) delivered the first lecture, focusing on the WIPO GREEN project, which INPI joined last February. WIPO GREEN comprises an online platform for the exchange of green technologies, designed to stimulate innovation and the dissemination of technologies related to the environment, connecting technology suppliers in this area with those who seek them for purposes of obtaining advantageous commercial transactions. This platform is currently under reorganisation, with the aim of evolving to a concept of green business intelligence. Marion, during her intervention announced the first Portuguese partner to join the project.
On the 2nd panel, entitled ‘Innovation in batteries and electricity storage’, Yann Ménière, from the European Patent Office, delivered a speech showing how patents in this green area are essential for building a more sustainable future, making reference to Japan as one of the main generators of patents in this area.
Therefore, it is urgent to create solutions that enable our own sustainability, using nature’s energies: solar, wind, hydraulic and geothermal. In this context, the 3rd panel entitled ’Renewable Energies and Industrial Property’, focused on the need to produce electricity using nature, which can be accelerated and improved using the latest technology. As speakers, this panel had the contribution of Juan Portillo, from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), who focused on wave energy, and Hélder Gonçalves, from the National Energy and Geology Laboratory (LNEG), who focused on solar energy.
Presented by Ângelo Ramalho, CEO of EFACEC, the 4th panel under the theme ‘The sustainable transport of the future’, demonstrated how the future of transportation is envisaged, as well as the mobility challenges in large cities, and what is the role of Industrial Property in this whole process.
The 5th panel under the theme ‘Green technologies and sustainability in the primary sector’ debated on how cork - a relevant national resource - can be used to produce energy without the need to cut trees. Moreover, this panel reflected on the new approaches to agri-food processes and how they can reverse the negative impacts of this activity on the environment through green innovation. This panel had João Pedro Azevedo from Amorim Cork Composites and Maria de Fátima Carvalho from the Instituto Politécnico de Beja (IPBeja) as speakers.
The 6th and final panel, presented by João Tremoceiro from the Municipality of Lisbon, approached the concept of Smart Cities, which unites innovation, sustainability and mobility in order to enable a new organisation for the cities of the world, making them cleaner, quieter and more sustainable.
The event was concluded with the speech of Margarida Matias, Member of INPI’s Directive Council. Margarida Matias thanked everyone’s presence and highlighted the decisive role that the Intellectual Property plays on the building up of a green future. Moreover, she stated that additional incentives are needed in order to stimulate green technologies by means of policies that promote, among others, financing, commercial partnerships, and the protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.
The full video of the webinar is now available on INPI’s Youtube page.