WIPO To Open Its Doors To Public For First Time Ever

The World Intellectual Property Organization is opening its doors to the public on Saturday for a glimpse at the organisation’s activities, during its first-ever “open day.”

Visitors will be given the opportunity to ask WIPO staff, including the director general, questions during the day. The event is part of a larger Geneva weekend event to coincide with World Environment Day on 5 June. The UN Environment Programme is organising events on the Place des Nations, and the gardens of the Palais des Nations will also be open to the public on 5 June, and on 6 June the International Peace Bureau will have events along the Geneva lakeside.

WIPO will be presenting its activities from 10:00 to 18:00. In parallel events, there will be a presentation of plant varieties by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), which is in the same building with WIPO, a Geneva wine tasting, and display of “green” technologies such as a clean-technology “water-making system” called Eole Water and a photovoltaic roof system from DuPont de Nemours.

“Technological innovation will be central to global efforts to deal with the challenges of climate change,” WIPO Director General Francis Gurry told the annual WIPO General Assembly in September 2009. The issue of environmentally friendly innovation and proprietary rights has been brought up by developing countries, likely to be first affected by climate change, in the context of technology transfer to help them address climate-induced hurdles.

A public debate moderated by Gurry on innovation and green technology organised by Geneva University will take place between 13:30 and 14:30. The debate will be hosted in the organisation’s main conference hall, usually hosting high-level negotiations between WIPO’s 184 member states. Speakers will include Maria Julia Oliva from the Union for Ethical BioTrade (and an Intellectual Property Watch board member), Jacques de Werra of Unige, Philip Boydell of DuPont and Pedro Roffe of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. Gurry will also respond to questions from the public in an event from 15:00 – 15:45.

Visitors will be allowed to access the top floor of the WIPO building. To enter the building they will be requested to show photo identification upon entrance. The programme of WIPO open day is available here.