Representatives of the Swiss Intellectual Property Institute (Swiss IPI) visited Science Technology Park Belgrade. As part of successful cooperation on the IP component of the Tehnopark Serbia 2 project, the visit involved activities aimed at capacity building and advisory support to stakeholders in the local innovation ecosystem on intellectual property (IP) protection and technology transfer.

Science Technology Park Belgrade has been implementing the project “Technopark Serbia 2 – Boosting Exports through Technoparks” with support from the Swiss Government, with the aim of boosting competitiveness through innovation and technological entrepreneurship in Serbia.

The event also provided an opportunity for Serbian tech and startup companies to learn, work and receive concrete feedback and advice from leading Swiss experts in this field.

Apart from meeting with the local stakeholders, exchanging challenges and reviewing opportunities for additional learning from the best international practices, STP Belgrade also hosted lectures from two leading Swiss experts on technology transfer and IP.

Matthias Kuhn, President of the Swiss Technology Transfer Association (SwiTT), presented the pathway and the key challenges and achievements in the process of developing technology transfer in Switzerland, in a lecture that provided numerous members of science and research organisations, the academia and support organisations with invaluable insight into how an effective technology transfer system functions across multiple levels and showed them the key lessons to be learned from the experience of the country which tops the world’s innovation lists.

Birgit Weil, a Swiss attorney-at-law, shared priceless knowledge with tech companies and introduced them to legal traps, negotiation techniques and practical use of licensing contracts of an international nature. Some of the companies were then given an opportunity to have 1-on-1 consultations with Birgit, who has been working with some of the world’s largest IT companies on matters of IP protection.

To raise awareness and provide new learning opportunities, Swiss IPI members also held a lecture for students of the University School of Law in Belgrade on the subject of identity and intellectual property protection in Switzerland, with practical examples and lessons learned.