soetendorp paper

Collaboration in IPEducation and Research: 

Collaboration in IP Education and Research Professor Ruth Soetendorp Joint Director Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management Bournemouth Law School Bournemouth University UK

IP is collaborative: 

IP is collaborative Law making: IP + industry, culture, commerce, society Litigation: IP at the cutting edge of innovation, science, technology, commerce Policy making: IP key to Economic, Social development

What is collaboration in IP?: 

What is collaboration in IP? Inter-professional, multi-disciplinary teams solving problems in the workplace Two or more IP academics researching a (pure) IP question Two or more academics from IP and more than one other discipline researching an IP in context question An IP academic preparing to teach students from non-law discipline IP academics working with IP practitioners IP practitioners working with non-law academics Others?

University –environment of IP education & research : 

University –environment of IP education & research Time of Change Government agenda Emphasis on technology transfer High profile for university owned IP High profile for IP as enterprise entrepreneurship competence Absence of Change? traditional single discipline research achievements as key to promotion and university funding

IP for non-lawyers: 

IP for non-lawyers Survey of UK and Australian Engineering faculties: When should IP be taught? How should it be taught? By whom? Using what resources? Growing awareness of importance of IP Examples of innovation in the literature but NO pedagogy for teaching IP in the non-law syllabus Most popular resources Lectures Course notes AGSM text Case studies Teaching material IP Australia (one) Games (one) NO mention of interactive, customised resources, nor of databases, nor other internet based materials.

Ethics & IP – models of collaboration: 

Ethics & IP – models of collaboration A realtime Centre -The University of Wolverhampton, UK for research into intellectual property in developing countries. An Online Centre - Case Western Reserve University, USA - onlineeethics.org, for engineering students A portal site – IPRsonline – NGOs commission academic research Consortium bidding -The University of Leuven, Belgium - to research DNA and public health, in co-operation with the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Theology. Taught Unit - Bournemouth University’s LLM IP – Intellectual Property Policy and Ethics, with invited guest speakers from appropriate organisations.

Respondents’ thoughts aboutcollaboration: 

Respondents’ thoughts about collaboration ATRIP and UK IP Teachers network members surveyed Respondents predominantly ‘Lawyers by discipline’, based in Law schools, faculties or departments What do other IP academics – from Politics, Economics, Anthropology, Art Sociology, Science, Music etc think about collaboration?

Responses by region: 

Responses by region Europe 37 North America 16 South America 4 Africa 3 Asia 1 Australasia & Pacific Rim 0 India 0 There was one response from Asia [Japan] and one from a new European state. none from India, Australasia or the Pacific Rim. Is there an intellectual perspective on IP collaboration or Interdisciplinary IP collaboration?

Collaborative Teaching: 

Collaborative Teaching 54% teach outside their own faculty 25% teach in a non-law faculty Few universities appears to have more than one faculty that receives IP education (max 3) Faculties receiving IP education Chemistry Industrial Design Engineering Bio Science Computing Literature Media Business Medicine Economics Art History Education Architecture Art & Design

Curiously….: 

Curiously…. 25% of the ATRIP/UKIPTN respondents teach outside the law faculty 0% of the engineering faculties in the ‘IP for engineers’ survey mentioned collaborating with their university’s law faculty to deliver IP

Collaborative Research: 

Collaborative Research 51% of respondents are involved in collaborative research 20% described themselves as involved in collaborative interdisciplinary research [CIR] Collaborative Interdisciplinary research – faculties Chemistry Industrial Design Literature Economics Engineering Science Social Science Business Studies: Management, Finance Medicine Theology

Interdisciplinary collaborationgood thing? bad thing?: 

Interdisciplinary collaboration good thing? bad thing? ++++ Fun, enjoyable, inspiring Broadens the questions asked Develop new methodologies ‘creativity where disciplines interact - - - - Global travel inflates research costs Writing proposals, winning and distributing funds difficult Reluctance of universities to accommodate interdisciplinary appointments Funding bodies prefer single discipline research

Additional comments: 

Additional comments I plan to be involved in CIR in the future, subject to current commitments and time constraints [Europe] Some form of IP research network would be useful [Europe] I hope that research bidding is an area I will be able to advance into [Europe] I will be very pleased if I could collaborate with other IP academics from other institutions [Europe] We are currently advertising for an additional IP specialist who I hope would be able to develop IP research [Europe] Pressures from the institution’s promotions board have the affect of acting as disincentives to engage in interdisciplinary or inter-institutional research since there is a perception that they do not reward collaboration [Europe] Bidding for research funding is not very widespread in US law faculties, so far as I know [US]

Concluding observations: 

Concluding observations There are some good examples of collaboration in education and research. There are some, but fewer, interesting examples of research and teaching by IP academics collaboration with other disciplines. Non-law faculties, in particular engineering, science and technology, are beginning to refer their students to IP matters There is no clear methodology or pedagogy for the delivery of IP to non-lawyers. Interdisciplinary research collaboration happens serendipitously, it is enjoyable. CIR fits awkwardly with university research and promotion norms. We need to understand what is meant by ‘collaboration’ before advocating, or dismissing it.

Concluding questions: 

Concluding questions Why and how do collaborations develop between IP academics and other faculties? Do academic ‘enthusiasm’ ‘passion’ and ‘good interpersonal relationships’ play a significant part in collaboration? Does collaborative teaching to lead to research? Or does it follow from a collaborative research project? Are there different attitudes to collaboration between IP specialists; between IP academics and specialists from other disciplines, or between IP academics with law backgrounds, and IP academics from other disciplines? If it is agreed that collaboration is a ‘good thing’ is it WIPO’s responsibility to promote it? And if the answer to that question is ‘yes’, then the next question is ‘how’?

Concluding Suggestions: 

Concluding Suggestions Research further [capturing responses from IP academics in all disciplines and regions] to establish clearer picture of collaborative activity Build on what is seen to work to encourage interdisciplinary collaborative activity Funding support for high profile attitude changing projects Challenge - traditional university attitudes Support curriculum integration – by encouraging integration of IP teaching across the disciplines to sow seeds for interdisciplinary research collaboration