Encouraging Creativity - World Intellectual Property Day, April 26, 2007
| Author | Sylvie Castonguay |
| Position | WIPO Magazine Editorial Staff, Communications and Public Outreach Division |
Encouraging Creativity was the theme of Seventh World Intellectual Property Day, celebrated on April 26, 2007. For many people, the connection between intellectual property (IP) and creativity is far from obvious. As WIPO Director General Kamil Idris said in his IP Day message, the word creativity conjures a world of artists and music makers, of poets and problem solvers, whereas IP summons images of lawyers and courtrooms. But it is the IP system that sustains those creators. On April 26, Member States and organizations around the world joined WIPO in celebrating this connection in different ways on the seventh World IP Day.
At WIPO's headquarters, participants from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe took part in an animated discussion on "Making IP Work for Development," hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce. Moderated by the Philippine Ambassador Enrique Manalo and the Brazilian Vice-Chair of the ICC Commission on IP, Mr. Peter Siemsen, the outcome of the discussions will provide some of the business input for the next WIPO Development Agenda meeting.
The Hellenic Copyright Organization (Greece) staged a play about copyright written for children. For the older audience, there was a photography exhibition, Greek and jazz music concerts, and talks about copyright, patents and trademarks. The Greek Industrial Property Organization also focused on young people with an open day at its premises, including an educational program and creativity competition for children.
A group of 15 and 16 year-old students in Portugal performed humorous sketches about the protection of IP and the fight against counterfeiting, entitled "Stand up IP." Over 1,000 students attended the event at Lisbon University. The filmed sketches will form the basis of an awareness campaign in high schools across Portugal.
Belarus announced the results of two competitions for students and graduates: the first aimed to identify students with the skills required to join the IP office's human resources; the second identified outstanding inventors and creators among science, engineering and industrial design students.
Singapore IP office launched a year-long campaign with the aim of changing the attitudes of young people toward downloading music illegally and buying pirated CDs. A survey conducted among young people earlier in the year revealed that...
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