On March 24-27, 2021, Professor Irene Calboli co-organized the Third Annual IPIRA Conference. Hosted virtually by the IP & Innovation Research of Asia (IPIRA) Network, the Third IPIRA Conference gathered over 300 presenters, chairs, and participants from Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
This year’s conference follows the First IPIRA Conference, organized in early February 2019, and the Second IPIRA Conference held in Indonesia in early February 2020. The IPIRA Conference is also linked to the IP Researchers Europe Conference (IPRE), which was launched in 2018 in Geneva, and which is also co-organized by Calboli.
Students and recent graduates from Texas A&M School of Law and partner universities also assisted the Organizers to carry on the details and technical logistics of the Conference.
WIPO Director General Daren Tang delivered a Key Note Address at the opening of the Conference, in which he stressed the role of academics as active participants in policy making at the national and international level. He additionally highlighted the growing importance of countries in Asia as global innovation leaders and praised the opportunity to hear from several academics and researchers from the region.
The Conference also featured two plenary sessions. The First Plenary focused on “Intellectual Property and Innovation During and After Covid-19” and featured speakers from WIPO, WTO, the ASEAN Secretariat and academia. The Second Plenary focused on “The Impact of IP Teaching and Researching on Public Policy” and featured speakers from WIPO, WTO and academia. Mr. Tony Taubman, the Director of the IP Division of the WTO, delivered a closing lecture on “TRIPS @ 25”.
Participants once again acknowledged the work of Calboli, whose engagement in Asia has brought about important opportunities for scholars in the region. Calboli founded the IPIRA Network in 2018 and the Network has today 700 members from academic institutions across the world. In addition, she founded the IPScholars Asia (IPSA) Conference and organized its 2016, 2017 and 2018 editions at Singapore Management University. The IPSA Conference was renamed “Asian IP Works in Progress Conference” and held its fifth edition in 2020 at City University of Hong Kong.
The Intellectual Property law program at Texas A&M University School of Law continues to be a strong international hub for research and education thanks to the work of its world-renowned faculty. In addition to an intellectual property concentration for J.D. students, the program offers a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property degree for lawyers and a Master of Jurisprudence (M.Jur.) in Intellectual Property degree for non-lawyers. In the past several years, Texas A&M University School of Law’s Intellectual Property program is ranked as one of the best in the United States. In 2021, it was ranked as number seven, up one position from the previous year.
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