Intellectual property attorneys, scientists, academics, and other members of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) will attend the LESI Conference from the 11th until the 14th of April 2010. The aim of the conference to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre will be to discuss and analyse topics surrounding collaborative innovation’s impact and role of emerging economies.

Intellectual property attorneys and other professionals interested in the commercialisation of intellectual property including that of trademarks, patents and designs, have been invited to attend. In-depth discussions and workshops will be held and ideas exchanged, networking encouraged and solutions evaluated at the conference. From legal perspectives of intellectual property attorneys to scientific approaches of scientists as well as financial recommendations of economists will be highlighted. Publicly funded research is one of the topics that will be investigated at the conference and the various speakers are briefly introduced below.

Dr Kathleen A. Denis the Associate Vice President of Technology Transfer at the Rockefeller University in New York will share about the USA’s experience regarding publicly funded research. Ms Morne Barradas, IP Legal Advisor at Sasol in Johannesburg will share about industry viewpoints on the topic of publicly funded research. Dr Shelley Mulder from the Medical Research Council in Cape Town will share the academia viewpoints on the topic while Mr Rob McInnis from Spruson & Ferguson Lawyers in Sydney Australia will share about the Australian experience.