IPR discussed among flowers and leaves

Herbanist in Sundsvall was the original venue for Packbridge Live on 26 November. Herbanist is a garden shop in the centre of the city which also has conference facilities in a unique environment.

The theme for the day was Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), an interesting theme, especially when paired with open innovation, a subject that Packbridge has lobbied intensively for in recent years, mainly through the digital platform OpenUp. How can intangible and intellectual assets be protected when thoughts and ideas are shared in an open environment?

We had help from Anna Lundqvist from PRV, the Swedish Patent and Registration Office, who gave a description of their activities and how to use IP as a strategic business tool. In particular, she pointed to the importance of raising awareness of IP in small and medium sized enterprises and of increasing skills in the area.

John Sjöberg, a patent examiner for PRV, works in a group focusing on paper and polymers, and thus has a close connection to the packaging industry. For a few years he has been examining patent questions in combination with open innovation. He defined the terminology, looked at strategies for open innovation and IP and at how IP strategy can be used in different contexts with open innovation. Another issue was how to work practically with IP in open innovation.

Susanne Strand, Exposita

The afternoon ended with crime and punishment. At least that was the underlying theme when Susanne Strand, associate professor of criminology who also works at Exposita, talked about stalkers. It is easy to think that stalkers are just something that exist in private life, but they are also a phenomenon among companies and government authorities. Stalkers can also cause major problems in these areas. In addition to defining a stalker, Susanne also talked about how to protect against them, and how early a stalking situation can be detected. Together with colleagues in Melbourne, she has developed a screening tool/checklist called SASH; Screening Assessment for Stalking and Harassment.

The program concluded with a panel discussion led by Stefan Söderberg from Packbridge North. If you missed out on the livestream, members can see everything on PackbridgeTV, as usual.