In a world where knowledge and innovation are the key drivers of development, intangible assets and intellectual property rights are becoming the primary resources for competitiveness and prosperity. In this context, Latin American HEIs are increasingly promoting research activities, engaging in R&D cooperation with enterprises internationally, and undertake efforts to transfer and exploit the research results generated in their institutions. The efforts however are hampered by a lack of innovation and IP culture, a lack of qualified staff with practical know-how on IP and TT management, weak policy frameworks, and low cooperation among the different actors of the innovation systems. The PILA-Network’s objective is to convert these weaknesses into strengths, and enable HEIs to realize their potential as cornerstones of innovation systems.
Overall objective: To promote the modernisation of Intellectual Property Management practices in higher education, with a view to enhance university-industry collaborations and contribute to economic and social development.
Specific Objective: To establish a Regional Higher Education IP Network as a learning platform to foster the modernization and strategic planning of IP Management practices and regional integration in HE of Latin America.
The results obtained allow a visualisation of the impact of the project. Some highlights are:
• There has been an increase in the degree of awareness of the opportunities provided by the IP system in Latin America; this was achieved through the following activities: benchmarking on good management practices in the project member universities the and the AIDA study applied to 183 universities
• Strengthening of capacities in management and exploitation of IP. This outcome has been obtained thanks to six intensive train-the-trainers workshops, replication of these courses in 18 countries in Latin America by means of 36 workshops that trained more than 1300 persons and on-line courses with the participation of more than 1500 persons.
• Promotion of liaisons among the actors in the national innovation systems (organisation of 36 round tables held in 18 countries with more than 1100 participants from universities, governmental bodies and enterprises) and regional cooperation (organisation of an international conference; publications on IP and innovation strategies for Latin America).
• Formal creation, of the PILA Network, as a network of universities and other organisations joining a platform for interaction among IP managers in universities. The network currently integrates some 50 organisations and is governed by en exectuvie committeee selected every 3 years, and holds its permanent seat in Panamá. Among others the network offers interactive tools for the exchange of knowledge (e-learning, network of experts and an exchange forum), organizes training workshop and conferences, and much more. Interested entities can join the network and obtain more information at www.pila-network.org.
