The 6th edition of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association’s Intellectual Property (IP) Awareness workshop was held in Bahrain, recently.
The workshop saw great engagement from participants, who convened for the first time in Bahrain to discuss the opportunities, challenges and pitfalls of protecting the intellectual property of chemical and petrochemical companies, research and innovation institutes, universities and technology developers in the region.
Held under the theme ‘Maximizing Value from your Technology & IP Assets’, the workshop was hosted by the Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) from June 13 to 14 at the GPIC Club.
On day one, the workshop kicked off with a presentation by Zayd Alathari, Partner, Head of Intellectual Property – MENA, Norton Rose Fulbright, who discussed the role of technology and developing and successfully managing an IP strategy.
The chemical industry in the region has evolved tremendously since it was first established in the 1970s when industry players were focused on acquiring licensed technology through NDAs, licenses, technical service agreements, and specialized equipment.
The industry’s technological capabilities have grown in both complexity and sophistication over the last five decades. Today companies leverage technology and build extensive technical knowhow through collaboration, by registering patents and licenses, by ensuring they protect their trademark and create value for their brand.
In order to successfully protect their intellectual property, Alathari presented delegates with a practical guide to improve decision making at their firm. He told delegates to begin by establishing the vision, plan, strategy and priority for their organization.
Step two is to define what their key business is. Thirdly, Alathari said, companies must review the way in which different operating and organizational structures are set up and interact.
In the last piece of the puzzle, technology and R&I specialists across the petrochemical industry, academia and research organizations, need to move towards developing a technology plan which outlines how they would like to use their technology expertise.
