Whether university spin-offs can earn millions, how to prepare a project for an investor and what are the benefits of registering a designation as a trademark - these are just some of the topics discussed during Intellectual Property & Innovation Week, an event organised by the Technology Transfer Office UG.

Intellectual Property & Innovation Week is an event launching the new strategy of the UG Technology Transfer Office, held under the patronage of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland and the Agreement of Academic Technology Transfer Centres. It is organised as part of World Intellectual Property Day, established by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

On the first day of the conference, the guests were welcomed by the Vice-Rector for Cooperation and Development of the University of Gdańsk, dr hab. Sylwia Mrozowska, prof. UG, who talked about the University of Gdańsk as a place of cooperation between science and business. This was followed by a speech by the Director of the Technology Transfer Office UG, Katarzyna Gronowska, who spoke about the path to commercialisation at UG. The third speech, entitled 'The role of technology transfer in academia', was given by the Vice President of the Association of Polish Inventors and Rationalisers and member of the PACTT Coordinating Council, Krzysztof Maternicki. In the next part of the panel, Katarzyna Gronowska, Director of CTT UG, and Tomasz Chyrek , Deputy Director of CTT UG, introduced the participants to the patenting process at UG. At the end of the first day, Elżbieta Biały, Maciej Czarnik and Katarzyna Paprzycka from the TRILOKA Patent Attorneys' Office gave a lecture entitled. ‘Navigating the archipelago of patent issues - practical information on patentability, procedures, costs and good practice in this area’, after which individual consultations with the patent attorneys were also possible.

At the beginning of the second day, the presentation was given by the Vice-President of the Management Board of Univentum Labs, dr Andrzej Poszewiecki. During his speech, he presented examples of university spin-offs from the world's top rankings and Polish leaders in this respect. The audience then had the opportunity to get to know the companies that operate at the University of Gdańsk: Fermentum Mobile (2014), QSAR Lab (2016), Officina Baltica (2018), Vaxican Sp. z o.o. (2019), NanoExpo (2020), TCI Sp. z o.o. and Quantum Cybersecurity Group (2022). Dr Andrzej Poszewiecki also provided information on the creation of a new UG spin-off: BNF - New Bio Force, in which representatives of the Faculty of Biology and the Faculty of Economics are shareholders. The speaker also identified two main obstacles to success in the context of spin-off development: regulatory, financial and technological challenges and the lack of commercial experience among scientists. As a conclusion, Dr Poszewiecki outlined two not-so-optimistic facts: most spin-offs fail within the first five years, and universities often lack the resources or know-how to commercialise research results.

The next lecture, 'Which designation to choose for a product or company? Practical considerations at the interface of copyright law, trademark registration and competition law', was led by dr hab. Hanna Wolska and mgr Olga Zinkiewicz-Będźmirowska from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the UG. ‘The process of selecting and protecting the designation of a company, product or service, although it may seem complex, is crucial for securing and promoting innovation in a company. Understanding how to effectively protect a chosen designation lies at the heart of building a company's goodwill and recognition. Choosing the right designation is linked to a creative activity and is often carried out in collaboration with a specialised agency. This process is called naming, to reflect the fact that its purpose is precisely to create names for companies, brands, products or services,' said dr hab. Hanna Wolska. The key aspects of protection against unfair competition in the context of naming were then discussed.

The next part of the presentation was given by mgr Olga Zinkiewicz-Będźmirowska. The speaker discussed examples from court practice in the context of legal protection of names by copyright law. The assembled guests also had the opportunity to hear about the benefits of registering a designation as a trademark. ‘As entrepreneurs, we have to be sure that the name we have chosen is safe and that it does not infringe anyone's rights, but also that we will be able to make various claims against third parties if someone starts copying our name, doing something similar or the same,' said Ms Olga Zinkiewicz-Będźmirowska. - In summary, inventing a name and even a very deep internal - but still subjective after all - conviction of a creative or individual character, is not tantamount to an automatic creation of copyright,’ she added. Finally, the speaker mentioned the support programmes in the European Union, which can help cover some of the costs associated with registering trademarks.

On the second day of the Intellectual Property & Innovation Week, Aleksander Kłósek, Managing Partner at the YouNick Mint investment fund, also talked about preparing a project for an investor. On the other hand, the role of the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone in the creation of an innovation ecosystem in the region was presented by JASMINA Zwierz, Project Manager of the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone and a representative of Gdańsk Science and Technology Park. The second day of the event culminated with a presentation by the Director of Invest in Pomerania, Wojciech Tyborowski , entitled ‘The strategy of acquiring investments for the Pomeranian Voivodeship. ‘Strategy for attracting investments for the Pomeranian Voivodeship and directions of cooperation with the regional ecosystem’.