On April 26th IPIC and its Educational Foundation celebrate World Intellectual Property Day (World IP Day) 2023! This year’s World IP Day theme is Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity, which aims to celebrate women inventors, creators and entrepreneurs around the world and their imagination, ingenuity and hard work, but also to recognize the significant challenges that they often face in accessing necessary knowledge, skills, resources and support. We encourage all of you to learn more about World IP Day this year’s theme, and to find out how you can recognize and support women in IP by visiting WIPO's World IP Day webpage. 

The day kicked off for IPIC with the publication of a video featuring Jenna Sudds, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, and the office of the Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, Women and Gender Equality Canada. The video was a wonderful acknowledgement for IPIC members in celebration of World IP Day and a nod to the significance of its important theme. IPIC also hosted its quarterly Board Meeting in Ottawa with members of the IPIC Board and staff, it was a chance to connect and to discuss IPIC’s achievements and opportunities from the past quarter and plans and strategies for the rest of the year and the remainder of IPIC’s 2021-2023 Strategic Plan.

Additionally, both IPIC member Charlotte Henderson and IPIC Director of EDI and Stakeholder Relations presented at the Global Affairs Canada, Trade Commissioner Services (TCS) Roundtable in Halifax NS on the topic of IP Resources and the value of speaking to an IP Professional on World IP Day. The purpose of the event was to inform Trade Commissioners (TC) on elements such as key do’s and don'ts that must be considered by TCs when dealing with a start-up or any other client in IP rich economic sectors. IPIC thanks Ms. Henderson for sharing her time and expertise with the Trade Commissioners Services Canada. IPIC members who wish to learn more about speaking engagements should contact Loreto Lamb, Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and Stakeholder Relations.

Furthermore, IPIC also participated in a World IP Day event last week hosted by the IP Centre of Expertise at Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Opening remarks were delivered in part by IPIC member Alex Héroux, Team Lead, Intellectual Property Directorate, Innovation Canada, ISED, followed by a keynote address delivered by Jennefer Nepinak, Vice-President, Strategic Partnerships and Reconciliation, TIPI Group of Companies, who discussed her role in the unprecedented agreement that was ratified to bring The Witness Blanket to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. This moving presentation was followed by an impactful panel discussion moderated by Maya Urbanowicz, A/Director at CIPO, on Women, Innovation and IP and featured three inspiring women active in Canada’s innovation and IP world including long time IPIC member and Board Secretary Paula Clancy, Partner, Lawyer, Trademark Agent, Gowling WLG, Catherine Eckenswiller, Counsel, Research Legal Services, Queen's University, and Catherine Mavriplis, Full Professor Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa.

The theme of this year’s World IP Day is an important reminder that many segments of Canadian society do not have equal access to the necessary resources and tools to thrive in our profession. IPIC has been focused on raising awareness and working to make meaningful, positive change in respect of these issues. Since 2019, IPIC's Educational Foundation’s [Patent & Trademark Institute Educational Foundation (PTIEF)] mandate has been to encourage education and scholarship in the IP field with a focus on promoting diversity and inclusion among IP professionals and removing barriers to access for members of under-represented groups interested in pursuing educational opportunities in the IP field.

The PTIEF is working towards these goals through its fundraising efforts aimed at growing its educational fund, so that it can provide monetary assistance to deserving members (and aspiring members) of the Canadian IP profession to achieve their professional aspirations.

To learn more about IPIC's Education Foundation (PTIEF), find out how you can get involved, or to make a donation please go to: www.IPfoundation.ca or contact Foundation Committee Chair Nicole Mantini or Vice Chair Kevin Shipley.