New IPR Helpdesk holds launch event
To highlight the launch of new IPR (intellectual property rights) helpdesk, an event has been organised at the Palais de Justice in Brussels on 4 July. The service boasts several changes from the previous version, including a new website structure and helpline. It is designed to help contractors in Community-funded research projects with intellectual property protection issues. The event will include a presentation on some of the protection rules included in the Sixth Framework programme (FP6). The launch event is supported by UNICE (the Union of industrial and employers' confederations of Europe), UEAPME (European association of craft, small and medium sized enterprises), Eurochambres (association of European chambers of commerce and industry) and the Young bar association of Brussels. There will be further presentations by other projects in the Innovation and SMEs programme, such as the Gate2Growth helpdesk and the Innovation relay centres network. The contract for the running the IPR Helpdesk has been held by the University of Alicante, Spain, since the beginning of 2002. Some of the main areas that will be developed during this contract will be the service's representative office, its dissemination action, its info-service and the website and helpline.