The senator meets with WIPO CEO Francis Gurry
First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Lilia Gumerova, representative of the executive power of the Bashkortostan Republic, had a meeting with CEO of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Francis Gurry during her visit to the WIPO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The meeting was held as part of the preparations for Francis Gurry’s upcoming visit to Moscow in April.
Lilia Gumerova expressed her gratitude for the fruitful cooperation and close relations between WIPO and Russia and the Federation Council in particular. “The Federation Council is paying special attention to matters related to intellectual property rights. Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko constantly monitors this. The Intellectual Property Council has been created within the upper chamber. We are actively working to popularise intellectual property issues among young people. Since 2014, together with WIPO, we have held four youth scientific and practical conferences on intellectual property. We plan on holding an outbound conference in St Petersburg in April,” the senator noted.
In addition to this, Lilia Gumerova and Francis Gurry discussed cooperation in the field of education and specialist training. The International Intellectual Property Olympiade for High School Students, tours for students and teachers to the WIPO headquarters in Geneva and seminars on teaching about intellectual property are held as part of the Agreement between the Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property (RSAIP) and the WIPO Academy. “Today there are many active young people who are inventing something, carrying out research and obtaining results. The intellectual property Olympiade and our joint educational projects make it possible to find talented young people in time and open new horizons for them,” the senator said.
Lilia Gumerova has positively assessed the activities of the WIPO office in Russia. According to the senator, its representatives are taking an active part in the Federation Council meetings on intellectual property, parliamentary hearings, roundtable discussions and working meetings on the development of the intellectual property sphere as well as the improvement of the commercialisation and rights protection mechanisms. Seminars are held on a wide range of topics.
Lilia Gumerova noted that establishing technology and innovation support centres (TISC) in Russia had become an effective measure to provide legal and technical assistance in the sphere. As of today, the TISC network includes 170 centres in 70 regions and provides free access to specialised intellectual property databases for innovative companies as well as independent investors.
Francis Gurry said that a lot had been done due to joint efforts and expressed his interest in further promoting cooperation between WIPO and Russia.