European Intellectual Property Institutes Network - Innovation Society

Project Information

EIPIN IS

Grant agreement ID: 721733

DOI

10.3030/721733

Project closed

EC signature date 12 August 2016

Start date 1 March 2017

End date 28 February 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 865 881,60

EU contribution

€ 3 865 881,60

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EIPIN IS (European Intellectual Property Institutes Network - Innovation Society)

Reporting period: 2019-03-01 to 2021-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

EIPIN-Innovation Society is a comprehensive project at the forefront of multidisciplinary research, examining the role of intellectual property (IP) as a complex adaptive system in innovation. The fourth industrial revolution will not only result in the need for cooperation between widely divergent scientific fields and industrial actors, but will also have a great impact on labour and society.

The ambition of the EIPIN-Innovation Society project is to enhance Europe’s capacity to foster innovation-based sustainable economic growth globally. The primary research objective of the programme is to provide political leaders and stakeholders with reliable conclusions and recommendations in the form of doctoral IP research on how to deal with the adaptive complexities of innovation cycles that secure economic benefits and uphold justice and social cohesion in the innovation society.

Within EIPIN-Innovation Society, fifteen Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) are trained to present their research findings on a number of topics of great societal interest, and to guide inventors and entrepreneurs through the lifecycle of IP-intensive assets that takes human creativity into the marketplace. The programme ultimately leads to the award of a joint doctoral degree for the ESRs concerned. Five academic partners (universities) and fifteen non-academic partner organizations are involved in the project.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

All results have been consistently shared and updated via the public website http://www.eipin-innovationsociety.org. In addition, newsletters informed twice a year about EIPIN IS activities. More importantly, news and events were publicized via LinkedIn. All ESRs used their own LinkedIn account to promote their own activities in the context of EIPIN IS. In particular, awards and international publications by the ESRs, were highlighted in particular.
Joint doctoral degree structures have been set up between five European universities. Doctoral candidate agreements were concluded that set out procedures about assessment, defence, degree and diploma, among others.

A tailor-made training programme has been executed as foreseen (with some adaptations due to Covid-19):
- Skills 1: Getting Started & Getting to Know Each Other Day, 2-6 October 2017, Maastricht (organized by Maastricht University)
- Skills 2: IP Moot Court, 30 October - 8 November 2017, Hong Kong and Macao (organized by Maastricht University)
- Skills 3: Presenting and Publishing, “Scientific Communication Skills”, 22-23 January 2019, Alicante (organized by Alicante University) & “Academic Publishing” and “Drafting policy-briefs”, 13-15 February 2019, Strasbourg (organized by Strasbourg University)
- Skills 4: Preparing for the Labour Market: Module 1: "Personal Development", 25 June 2019, Strasbourg (organized by the University of Augsburg). Module 2: "Research Grants and Career Perspectives", 20-21 January 2020, Maastricht (organized by Alicante University). Module 3: "Leadership and Management", online (organized by the partner organization EUIPO)
- Skills 5: "Career Day – How to communicate your research results to industry", online format (due to COVID-19), 25 June 2020 (organized by Maastricht University and EUIPO)
- Methods 1: Legal Research & Writing, 23-24 January 2018, Maastricht (organized by Maastricht University)
- Methods 2: Core Social Science Research Methods, 4-6 June 2018, London (organized by Queen Mary University of London)
- Methods 3: Intellectual Property and Economic Theory, 3-4 September 2018, Munich (organized by University of Augsburg)
- Methods 4: Literature Seminar, 5-6 September 2018, Munich (organized by Univesity of Augsburg)
- 1st Doctoral Seminar, 27 April 2018, Strasbourg
- 2nd Doctoral Seminar, 2-3 April 2019, London
- Interdisciplinary Research Week, 26-29 June 2019, Strasbourg
- 3rd Doctoral Seminar, 21-22 January 2020, Maastricht
- Six EIPIN-Innovation Society Congresses were organized during the course of the project. The final conference is postponed to 31 May and 1 June 2021 due to COVID-19.
- All ESRS have carried out secondments with EIPIN IS partner organisations.

All ESRs have presented their research results at academic conferences and published them in international publications. The final PhD research of the ESRS will be defended in 2021.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Socio-economic Impact and Wider Societal Implications of the EIPIN Innovation Society Project

Expected Results
EIPIN-Innovation Society is a project first of its kind in terms of providing a comprehensive joint PhD programme on the role of intellectual property as a complex adaptive system in innovation. As such it provides a transferrable template for joint PhD programmes, will yield fifteen PhD theses on the subject of intellectual property and innovation, as well as public lectures, conferences and a number of publications. All information and publications are and is available through open access on the public website (https://www.eipin-innovationsociety.org/dissemination/). Some ESRs have been and will continue to be ambassadors of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie action during their current and future professional life.

Resulting Progress Beyond the State of the Art
Several ESRs have had impact through publications, awards, honorary mentions, project work and cooperation with IP-related institutes, presentations at international conferences, etc.
Six ESRs were prize winners (4iP Council Research award 2018; CEPS’ Youth Essay Competition Prize 2018; EPIP Young Scholar Award 2019; EPIP Young Scholar Award 2020; 1st prize in the ECTA Award Competition 2020; 2020 AIPPI Essay Prize in the student category), allowing their research to be noted as excellent and to be widely disseminated by policy-advising organisations at the international and European level.
Also, several ESRs presented their research to stakeholder companies like Roche, J&J, Novartis, Bayer, BMS, Merck, MSD etc. Besides interviewing experts at the companies, they got the chance to present their projects and hold discussions in formats like group discussions, round-table meetings, informal lunch meetings, etc. These meetings allowed important private sector actors to become aware of and discuss the perspective taken by EIPIN Innovation Society researchers.
Furthermore, EIPIN Innovation Society researchers were in direct contact with policy makers, in particular from the European Patent Office, DG GROW, DG Connect and DG TRADE, and the Consejo Regulador I.G.P. Jijona y Turron of Alicante. These discussions and meetings were particularly useful in order to directly address policy priorities and points of disagreement and agreement with private sector needs.

All ESRs presented at international and national conferences. One ESR was consulted by experts at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation), other ESRs were collaborating with LTEC (Windsor University, Canada) in the organization of a lecture series.

Results are continuously updated on the project website regularly: https://www.eipin-innovationsociety.org/dissemination/

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