Let The WIPO Dialogues Begin!

Negotiators at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva will have a new conference hall in which to debate in 2013, with construction starting this summer, according to a press release.

The release is here.

The new space will include some 900 seats and several small meeting rooms in the main building. This answers a growing need for multilateral and bilateral consultations, the release said, in particular during intergovernmental meetings at WIPO.

The conference hall project [pdf] is the last of a series of WIPO construction projects, and follows the completion of a new administrative building (IPW, WIPO, 26 April 2011), which will be officially inaugurated on 26 September, on the first day of the institution’s annual Assemblies.

Member states previously earmarked Swiss francs 64.2 million for the conference hall project, which will give “priority to sustainability, using local wood, natural light, hybrid ventilation,” and employ a cooling system drawing water from Lake Léman (Lake Geneva), the release said.