IP Summer School on the Banks of Lake Geneva

The July sun shone through WIPO's windows on a lively gathering of young professionals and students. It included trademark attorneys from Eastern Europe; science graduates from Africa and Australia; a Russian economist; a specialist in traditional Chinese medicine; a Chilean telecommunications executive; Ph.D. law students from Egypt, Kenya and Kazakhstan.

These were the 37 young achievers who had successfully applied to spend the summer of 2005 immersed in the study of intellectual property (IP) at WIPO's Worldwide Academy Summer School in Geneva.

For four weeks they lived - at least by some accounts - on a diet of IP and Swiss chocolate. They heard lectures from WIPO experts, they conducted intensive research into chosen topics, they presented their findings, and they talked - often late into the evening.

WIPO Magazine met the students, exhausted but still ebullient, on the final day of the course to hear what they had to say about the experience.

The group were unanimous in their appreciation of the opportunity that the Summer School had given them to learn, not only from the WIPO experts, but - perhaps even more importantly - from each other. By comparing their experiences and discussing IP issues among themselves they were able to build beyond the lectures, to learn about the differing IP practices in each other's countries and, as one student put it, "to understand just why harmonization is such a challenge."

"We learned a lot and we laughed a lot," said Maria Gomez from Venezuela. She urged the Academy to consider running similar summer schools in Spanish in Latin America, or in Africa, so as to spread the opportunity as widely as possible.

Adam Flynn had flown across the world from Australia, having wanted to attend the Summer School for several years. "Being together with colleagues from developing and developed countries, from the old world and the new, has given me a different understanding of IP," he commented. He singled out presentations from guest speakers from the Swiss IP Office and from WTO as particularly instructive. Enthused by the research projects, he wished it had been possible to pursue these in greater depth.

Adam's regret on this score was shared by Swiss law student, Alexandra Zachman. "I feel as if I only scratched the surface," she said. "I came away with certain issues that I really want to study further."

Broadening horizons

Several participants spoke of having...