Country Focus - Intellectual Property Education in Belarus

Over the last five years, studies by the Ministry of Education have shown a steady rise in the volume of research performed in state funded universities. Each year 700 to 800 technological innovations come out of Belarus’ institutions of higher education, spanning all the major sectors of the economy, and educational institutions are now filing one in four of all national applications for inventions and utility models. But these statistics hide a problem, namely a comparative lack of vigorous innovation in the corporate sector.

Analysis of research and production facilities in Belarus demonstrated that problems relating to legal protection and, in particular, management of IP at the corporate level were eroding the competitive advantages of Belarus’ enterprises. The government has therefore focused on human resources training in the area of IP as a key component in its efforts to stimulate innovative activities in Belarus.

Training Center opens its doors

In 2004, by order of the President of the Republic, the Training Center of Intellectual Property was created within the NCIP structure. From the start, the Training Center worked closely with the WIPO Worldwide Academy. In November 2004 WIPO Deputy Director General Philippe Petit and NCIP Director General Leonid Voronetsky signed a Protocol on Cooperation, setting out details of the technical assistance which WIPO would provide. This included modern computer hardware and software, IP teaching materials and methods, and free access to distance learning courses.

In 2005 alone, some 2,000 people participated in the courses, seminars and workshops offered by the Training Center. A consultation service within the Training Center caters for the increasing demand for more specialized courses, offering applicants expert advice and information. The consultation service, which is also used by applicants from neighboring countries such as Latvia, Poland, Russia and Ukraine, proved so popular that the NCIP has now initiated a similar service on the premises of the Scientific and Technical Library. In the next few years, a network of consultation services will be developed in all major regions of Belarus.

To address the problems related to the management of IP in the corporate sector, courses on the "Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Management,"...