Intellectual property and its future in Russia

"Expopriority´2011": presentability and versatility

This international forum on intellectual property takes place in Moscow every year under patronage of the Federal Council of Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education and Science, Federal Service for Intellectual Property. This forum is also supported by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), International chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Federation of Invention Associations (IFIA), Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), International Federation of Exhibition and Congress Services (IFES) and Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs. Organizers of this forum are the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and Central Exhibition Complex "Expocenter".

In 2011, from December 7 to December 9, Third International Forum – "Expopriority´2011", was held. More than 700 delegates from 27 countries participated in this forum, and geography of these countries expanded significantly in comparison with the last year. The companies from Switzerland, France, Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Netherlands, USA, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia, Great Britain and many others were presented on this forum. Among them there were such well-known international companies as Shell International B.V., Philips (Netherlands), Microsoft Corporation (Great Britain), AT&T Intellectual Property Inc. (USA) and many more.

More than 1000 participants from 38 regions presented Russia. More than 50 universities under the Ministry of Education and Science and more than 20 academic institutes of the RAS (Russian Academy of Science), also 12 academies and Research and Development Centers of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, 7 national invention associations, more than 110 individual inventors and designers participated in the work of this forum.

Every year the program of the forum is getting more intensive. This year it included International congress on intellectual property, Summit of brand-leaders, International exhibition of innovations, International innovation contest, Assembly of youth innovation community, round tables, master classes and other events.

International exhibition of innovations serves for Russian and foreign companies as a platform for presentation of high-tech products. This year more than 200 companies from different countries on an area of more than 5 500 square meters submitted their new developments.

In the framework of the International congress on intellectual property several international seminars and round tables were held, where the latest Russian and foreign tendencies in the development of international patent law were discussed.

On the Summit of brand-leaders some questions about fight against counterfeiting and piracy and collision in the sphere of intellectual property in the Internet were discussed. Developers of one special project ICC named BASCAP – "Business in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy", took part in this event.

As noted the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council, Alexander Torshin, on the opening of the forum "Expopriority´2011", this forum could become the main event of the year in the sphere of protection of intellectual property not only in Russia, but in East Europe. The subject area of the forum is urgent and in a high demand, especially on the eve of Russia’s entrance to WTO.

"Maintenance of intellectual potential of the country is the first thing we should work on in order to save the future of Russia", – said the President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin. He noted that the section of exhibitions dedicated to Russia, to young intellectuals, is twice the area of the whole exhibition Expopriority than three years ago. The head of the Russian CCI is sure that "in the near future various chambers and the government will create all necessary conditions, including in law, for saving these talents".

Quite real fantasy

Exhibits at this forum provoke strange feelings as if you were in the future world from science fiction novels. For example, flying vehicles created with the use of Bifeld-Brown effect, which was opened in America in 1928 and was immediately placed on a secret list.

Как объясняетAs explains the head of youth research laboratory for studying this effect, PhD,, associate professor at the department of electrical engineering and electric equipment of Moscow State University of Instrument Engineering and Informatics, Mikhail Lavrinenko, Bifeld-Brown effect allows to create flying vehicles, in which absolutely new principle of movement is used. For example, it is possible to create fuel-free engine for outer space. At the exhibition more practical project, based on this invention, was presented: ventilator, which with little power – 20 watt – allows providing a large flow of air – 20 cubic meters. It is noiseless, economical and could be used with great success, for example, in hospitals.

Wonderful fabric, which absorbs electromagnetic waves, could be used not only for camouflage of military equipment from enemy radars but also for protection of civilians from everyday impact of electromagnetic radiation coming from computers and mobile phones.

Cases for mobile phones and aprons for pregnant women, who have to stay on their working place in front of the computers, reduce the level of adverse effects by 50 times, – explains deputy general director of the Central Design Bureau of Special Radiomaterials, Elena Handogina.

Microscope, which was invented by scientists from the Institute of Solid State Physics of RAS, allows determining the exact composition of the material with a laser and spectrometer. This device will be useful not only for antiquarians, jewelers, archaeologists, but also for pharmaceutical companies (in the fight against counterfeit medicines), because this device allows identifying any material, without any data or evidence, just on the base of the fact that molecules of the examined material have algoristic molecular properties. For the development of this "compact novel fluorescence microscope for express analysis of organic and non-organic substances" research associate at the Institute of Solid State Physics of RAS, Alexander Vankov, PhD in physical and mathematical sciences, got he golden medal of the WIPO in the nomination "For best young inventor" on International innovation contest.

The more useful device and even more fantastic is "Laser nano welding of biological tissues and organs", developed by scientists from Moscow State University of Electronic Equipment.

With the help of this miracle device impaired during surgeries tissues could be smoothly connected – without any surgical needles and threads, so after there will be no scars.

For this project the staff of the Moscow State University of Electronic Equipment on "Expopriority´2011" also got the golden medal of the WIPO in the nomination "For best innovator".

Not only an honor, but also a benefit

pAwards and prizes, given on "Expopriority´2011", were not only honorable, but also practical. To choose winners among the great number of participants was very difficult, because practically all projects were worthy and interesting, noted the organizers.

Besides main awards – gold, silver and bronze medals – special prizes from sponsors and partners were given to the best projects. So for example, Stock Financial Corporation "The System" invited young scientists and inventors to participate in the project "Elevator to the future", run by this corporation in 2011. It is first All-Russian youth social network of the talented young people with tutorship system. It helps to analyze and to choose for the participants all the necessary information and should contribute to the creation of All-Russian "talent bank".

Protection of intellectual property

The participants of the forum paid a lot of attention to the problems of protection of intellectual property. In this sphere fruitful cooperation of the Russian CCI, Rospatent, the ministry of Education and Science and other Russian Organizations is developed with the World Organization of Intellectual Property (WIPO). One of the main areas of work with the WIPO is the fight against counterfeiting. As noted Alexander Torshin, "for the last ten years counterfeit has become the threat of international scope, and the situation with counterfeiting products and protection of intellectual property, which exists today in the Russian Federation, should be viewed as a threat to national security". "Russian entrepreneurs are seriously interested In active fight against this phenomenon", - said Sergey Katyrin.

Foreign companies suffer from counterfeiting too. Imperfection of Russian legislation in this sphere is another factor, which deters the arrival of foreign investors to Russia. "This question is discussed in Russia on the highest levels; the WIPO gives consultations and, of course, is ready for deeper cooperation with Russia. The problem of fake brands is popular not only in Russia and not only in the countries with transition economies. It exists in all countries. So it is necessary to face this problem so that more foreign investors arrive to Russia. Also we have to remember that we should face this problem because of our local brands, which we proudly protect", – added Director of the Department at the WIPO of the European and Asian countries, Mikhail Shvanter.

Results and conclusions

Forum "Expopriority2011" showed that the activity in the sphere of intellectual property in Russia is growing, noted Mikhail Shvanter. "Reports, which were presented on the conference, were deeper and more saturated. Formulation of problems and solutions were more purposeful. The number of participants increased significantly. Among them there were various important players in the field of protection and promotion of intellectual property.

Also a lot of Universities took part in this event. There is young generation of innovators – and this is the most important thing".

Forum "Expopriority" "started to gain momentum so fast that you can compare it with tsunami, – said project manager of "Expopriority", Galina Kalinina. – The main task for us in near future is to convert this platform into the place of consolidation of intellectual potential of.

If everything will happen in one place, then it will have very high investment attractiveness, and people from all over the world will come to us. And the second task: we develop in the framework of the congress the model of accelerated introduction of inventions, when we show unprotected by patents products and allow them to test the market – here we have some unsolved problems, but we work really hard on this. And we are glad that this idea gets more support, although in the beginning we were criticized. Now international organizations support us, that is why everything for us is easier.

Not only moral, but also material support from the federal authorities is very important. This project is nonprofit. Expocenter is not making money out of it. We don’t take money from the participants – so that everybody, who is interested, participates in the congress. At the exhibition the prices are gentle in order to cover production costs, and Expocenter can’t bear all financial burdens. This year the project "Expopriority" was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. We expect that other federal agencies will also pay attention to this project, and that next year we will get higher volumes of budget financing.

In general, we are pleased with the results of this year. We started to promote the idea of consolidation", - concluded project manager.