In the anticipation of the World Intellectual Property Day AmCham in cooperation with PwC Legal continued with its annual tradition of holding a special event to highlight this topic in Estonia. This year’s global theme is “Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity” and we were happy to have 2 amazing women – DCM Elizabeth Horst opening the event and Anne Sulling (member of Riigikogu, Foreign Affairs Committee) giving the keynote speech.
On April 18 AmCham members and invited guests came together at the wonderful Lounge 24 of our dear member Radisson Blu Sky Hotel to discuss the importance of the IP protection and its influence on the economic growth of the country.
In her opening words Elizabeth Horst, the Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Tallinn, Estonia underlied the importance of maintaining IP rights, saying that though many people consider the violation of IP rights to be a victimless crime, a theft is still a theft, and a strong IP system is a critical factor in promoting a modern, knowledge-based economy. After that Anne Sulling in her keynote speech addressed the importance of IP awareness promotion as a crucial part of R & D strategy, emphasizing that R&D should be more supported by the state.
The keynote speech was followed by a panel discussion that was moderated by Aleksei Kelli (University of Tartu) and featured Gea Lepik from the Ministry of Justice, Kaupo Reede from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Riho Tapfer (APME), Siim Timpson (Cleveron), Kristiina Maasik (Telia Eesti AS)Pawan Dutt from TTÜ, Erik Puura (University of Tartu).
“Our development is faster than the patent system. For this reason, the intellectual property strategy must be modern and innovative. We should learn to think outside the boundaries of conventional thought!” – said Siim Timpson from Cleveron. Supporting IP protection is critical to economic development as Estonia has a rather vibrant innovation sector. Effective IP rules and enforcement support innovation, but entrepreneurs themselves also have to actively engage and make their move. As Estonia is lacking the history of intellectual property, the cultural shift is still needed so that the IP values would be taken more seriously and appreciated. But as Aleksei Kelli said – “Intellectual property is not a thing-in-itself. Its aim is the creation of social welfare. This is achieved through the enhancement of innovation“..
After the panel discussion Indrek Laul, the president of the Chamber thanked everyone for coming and participating.
We would like to thank PwC Legal for supporting this event and Radisson Blu Sky for hosting it! A huge thank you to all our panelists and Aleksei for the wonderful discussion!
Photos by Sergei Krasii, Fotki Inc. for AmCham Estonia (c)
AmCham Annual World IP Day Event 2018, Press Release
To view the full event album, please CLICK HERE!
