InnoScot Health’s next webinar will be a fantastic opportunity to learn what intellectual property (IP) truly means, its importance in healthcare, and why it is so crucial for innovators to protect their novel ideas

The NHS partner’s fifth informative webinar takes place from 12 until 12.45pm on Wednesday 21 June, and forms part of an ongoing series looking at a range of key innovation topics.

The session, entitled Intellectual Property: Protecting Your Innovative Idea with InnoScot Health, will be a fantastic opportunity for attendees to learn about this vital area, especially those with innovative healthcare ideas.

The free to join session will be introduced and led by InnoScot Health’s Head of Innovation Robert Rea, who will be joined by guest speaker Julia D'Arcy of Harrison IP, a Chartered and European Patent Attorney specialising in the protection of inventions in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and medical sectors.

A further guest, also of Harrison IP, will be Karl Shaw, a newly qualified IP attorney specialising in mechanical engineering who is contributing to the discussion.

InnoScot Health has a strong record of protecting the interests of NHS Scotland. Since it was set up it has protected over 250 NHS Scotland inventions. As a crucial part of the innovation pathway, the organisation is committed to ensuring innovators to get the right IP support, and advice.

The webinar presents an opportunity to share the knowledge and experience the team have gained over 20 years of working in partnership with NHS Scotland.

Robert will discuss how InnoScot Health helps the country’s innovators and health boards capture the value in IP, maximise it, and ensure they receive a fair return on investment.

Julia will provide an overview of the different types of intellectual property and why understanding each is so important. She will also be discussing topics such as confidentiality, collaboration agreements, and the new Unitary Patent system.

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Robert said: “Protecting the IP rights of the NHS represents one of the cornerstones of InnoScot Health's service offering and why the organisation was initially set up.

“A body of law protects all creative works, designs, and inventions, and it forms an important part of the innovation pathway. IP covers anything from images and symbols to brand names and literary works – but where NHS innovators are concerned, it’s at the centre of healthcare technology.

“Even the simplest medical devices can have several different inventions within them, and the more complex ones can be broken down into several hundred separate bits of IP.

“That’s why getting the right support and guidance to successfully navigate this often challenging part of the innovation journey is vital.

“This webinar will aim to help provide a useful overview – including what the main types of IP are, how best to protect and leverage your own, and how to avoid infringing someone else's.”

Julia said: “We believe that the ever-changing IP landscape needs to be reflected by a modern, progressive approach to securing it.

“It is essential for innovators who share that progressive ethos to receive commercially aware advice and, when relevant, to have an awareness of the most important legislation, case law, and developments such as the Unified Patent Court (UPC) which has only just become operational.

“I look forward to taking part in what promises to be an interesting discussion and feedback session.”

The session will be rounded off by an opportunity to ask questions of the speakers. Pre-submit your queries for our panel discussion to [email protected].