Knowledge, Networks and Nations

Mark Jolly, a Patent Attorney with Brookes Batchellor, based in Clerkenwell on London, will be attending the launch of the Royal Society’s much anticipated report, “Knowledge, Networks and Nations” on 29 March 2011.

We live in a time when the world faces some enormous challenges – climate change, food and water security, and resistance to antibiotics to name but a few. There are those who blame scientific progress for having created some of these problems in the first place, others who are expecting science to solve them in the way that science has, arguably, helped mankind overcome very many challenges over the last thousand years.

Those of us living in the western world, moreover, face the rise of the developing nations with excitement and trepidation. With Indian and Chinese universities turning out thousands of graduates every year and the Chinese government actively encouraging its academics to file patent applications, as well, or instead of publishing papers (http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-do-chinese-academics-file-so-many.html), a question is raised about the extent to which nations share research and its benefits, or regard them as national assets.

So it will be very interesting to hear what the speakers have to say at the Royal Society’s launch of its report. There’s a great panel of speakers, including Rt. Hon. David Willetts MP, who is likely to come in for some stern questioning, following today’s announcement that virtually all universities will be worse off under the new funding plans (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/17/newer-universities-cuts-teaching-budgets).

As a patent attorneys we will be particularly interested to hear what the speakers have to say about the role of intellectual property protection in encouraging, and helping to finance, scientific research. Mark and other attorneys at Brookes Batchellor work for universities in the UK and abroad who are patenting some of their innovations to increase their incomes, and thus their budgets for further research. This is of course a controversial area though, with many believing that universities are at their best when they offer their publically funded insights on an “open access” basis.

If you’re attending the event, do let us know and we can arrange to meet up.

Mark Jolly

Patent Attorney

Brookes Batchellor LLP, Clerkenwell, London