The Research and Development Society

Monday 24 May 2010, 5.30pm - 7.30pm
Hosted by Kilburn & Strode, 20 Red Lion Street London WC1R 4PJ - map and directions

Convenor

• Graham Land, Chair of the Innovation and Best Practice Group, The R&D Society (Managing Partner, MGL Consulting)

Speakers

• Declan Kirrane, Founder and Managing Director, ISC – Intelligence in Science
  "A View from Brussels" (provisional working title)
• Mark Richardson, Keltie
  "The European patent system: the place for collaboration with the authorities in China, Japan and Korea"
• Louis Turner, Chief Executive, Asia-Pacific Technology Network
  "European Multinational Companies and Asia - Competition, Collaboration and Adjustment"

The new EU Commissioner for Science has had “Innovation” added to her portfolio for the next years which says a lot of the EU’ commitment to innovation globally and this seminar will examine some of the priorities for cooperation with Asia. The meeting wiill examine the emerging target areas for collaborative R&D between Asia and the EU.

The EU will prioritise cooperation with India and China under its Strategic Forum for International Cooperation: Korea and Japan will follow in 2011. The current FP7 and future FP8 will provide a mechanism and funding for cooperative R&D at a much increased level that at present. The EP has a Delegation for India and other Asian countries: R&D cooperation is becoming part of their agenda. Intellectual Property is, of course, important. The seminar may look at a how the advent of a single community patent will impact on EU-Asia R&D and innovation. Moreover, EU/US/Japan/China/Korea cooperation on patents is hinting at a global patent – or at least a unified patent application process.

Speaker biographies

Declan Kirrane is founder and Managing Director of ISC, Brussels. ISC specializes in science and R&D public affairs, policy analysis and information dissemination. In 1994 Declan established the CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service) on-line dissemination service at the beginning of FP4. Prior to that he was Edtor of the CORDIS News Service. Declan has variously edited the Commission’s CORDIS focus, Innovation and Technology Transfer Newsletter and European Dialogue. He has also lectured widely on EU science policy and implementing programs, and has developed R&D and innovation strategies for public and private sector organizations. ISC is currently contracted to the European Commission, US Department of Energy’s Office of Science, EUREKA and the European Patent Office, amongst others.

Mark Richardson is a Director at Keltie and a Chartered and European Patent Attorney. Mark is part of Keltie's IT, Telecoms and Electronics team and advises on patent issues regarding various areas of technology. Mark has specific interest in Internet-related inventions, computer graphics generation, digital audio and video processing, data encryption and security, mobile telecommunications, business methods and data communications including messaging. Mark also has expertise in vehicle fuel injection systems, engine control systems and vehicle accessories. Before joining Keltie in 2005, Mark worked as a patent attorney with the Ministry of Defence and QinetiQ.

Louis Turner is the Chief Executive of the Asia-Pacific Technology Network, an Associate Fellow, Chatham House and a Visiting Fellow, Centre for International Business University of Leeds. Louis has been monitoring the behaviour of multinational companies since his first book Invisible Empires in 1970 (this was the first popular British book on the politics of these companies). From the start of his career, he has monitored developments in Asia, writing and editing The Rise of the Newly-Industrialising Economies in the late 1970s.He has written eleven books/monographs during his career on topics such as a history of the international oil industry, the rise of the Newly industrializing Countries, Middle Eastern Industrialization, Industrial Collaboration with Japan and the coming of Global Competition. He is currently writing a history of Japan's post-1990 investment in the UK (financed by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. During the latter part of his career, he concentrated on running conferences and seminars. Since the mid-1980s, he has 20 high-level conferences (often at ministerial level) with Japan, and another five with Korea, three with China and one in Singapore.

About the Asian Innovation seminar series

The Asian Innovation seminar series is run by the Asia Pacific Technology Network (APTN) and the R&D Society. It covers the general area of "Asian Innovation". These seminars will range across sectors and countries within the region, and will focus on the issues thrown up by the emergence of world-class scientific centres in Asia.

• What kinds of innovation are we seeing in Asia? What is the balance between imitation (catch-up) and genuinely cutting edge innovation? ... and what other varieties of innovation are found in the region?
• What are the comparative paths to innovation taken by the various Asian countries?
• What are the barriers facing Asian innovators?
• What is the quality of the scientific and educational institutions underpinning the innovators?
• What contribution do entrepreneurs and venture capitalists make to the health of Asian innovation?
• How do Asian innovators interact with the innovation systems of Europe and the USA?
• Where are the most promising sectors for collaboration, and what are the areas of potential friction?