WIPO To Hold Conference On Open Innovation

The World Intellectual Property Organization will hold a conference in January on open innovation and the future of knowledge, featuring some surprising speakers.

The WIPO Conference on Open Innovation: Collaborative Projects and the Future of Knowledge will be held on 22-23 January.

Speakers are expected to include: Richard Wilder, associate general counsel at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Samir Brahmachari, director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in New Delhi; Tim Hubbard, academic faculty at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; Peter Beyer, senior advisor at the World Health Organization; Katy Athersuch, medical information and access policy adviser at Medecins Sans Frontieres; Tanja de Coster, director, IP counsel, at eBay; and Bror Salmelin, policy advisor to the director of the European Commission Directorate General for the Information Society and Media, according to the provisional programme.

But the speaker list also includes many new names for Geneva policy circles, including representatives and government officials from across Europe, the US and Africa, like filmmakers, artists, researchers, energy innovators and those from innovation hubs and networks.