LES Australia & New Zealand explore Licensing Across Society at national conference
LES Australia and New Zealand hosted its annual conference in Sydney from 31 March to 2 April this year. IP and licensing professionals from all industries and others from the technology, finance, accounting, investment, academic, research and legal industries came together to find out more about the impact of licensing in its various forms across society.
The conference brought together speakers from around the world, with backgrounds in both the corporate and public sectors. Keynote speaker, Chief Judge Randall Rader from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, took conference attendees ‘behind the scenes’ on some of the latest intellectual property decisions and setting the agendafor the rest of the conference, as he asserted that intellectual property is “the most human-centred discipline of all”.
The conference spanned all areas of licensing, from new models in research organisations, to the experience within consumer markets and entertainment, to business development opportunities for early stage research and start-up companies. Speakers from some of Australia’s biggest brands shared their licensing experiences, outlining the opportunities and problems they face, including Fremantle Media’s television sensation, Masterchef, Weight Watchers, Australian television’s Channel Nine, Telstra, and The Heart Foundation.
The conference shed much-needed light on the importance of licensing to promote and extend Australian innovation.According to Mark Horsburgh, President of LES Australia & New Zealand, making the most of licensing opportunities will become increasingly important for Australia in the next 50 years, as the nation’s resources boom starts to wane. He told conference delegates that licensing has the potential to become a key national income stream, but more work needed to be done on promoting the importance of commercialisation.
Several conference speakers identified a move from the old-fashioned view of licensing (simply licensing out innovation and leaving the licensee to its own devices), in favour of a partnership approach. This is particularly important for early stage research where there is a high degree of technology transfer. Public sector speakers from universities and research institutions stressed the need for closer collaboration and better relationships with the corporate sector, to ensure commercialisation opportunities are properly exploited.
Dr Horsburgh said the conference gave IP and licensing professionals an opportunity to share experiences and examine different licensing models being used locally and overseas. Event sponsors included CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) and Intellectual Ventures.
