Workshop ’From Idea to Patent’ Held

Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Centre of the University of Banja Luka, in cooperation with the Ministry of Scientific and Technological Development, Higher Education and Information Society of the Republic of Srpska, organized a workshop ’From Idea to Patent’ on 30 May 2022.

Vice-Rector for Scientific Research and Development of the University of Banja Luka Prof. Miroslav Malinović, PhD, stated that the latest changes in the rules of this higher education institution, which regulates the procedure for the protection of intellectual property, also include students. The Vice-Rector said that so far students have not filed any patent applications, and that one of the goals of this workshop is to motivate students to do that.

The coordinator of this project, Predrag Govedarica, said that the goal of this workshop was to educate professors, teaching assistants, students of the University, as well as other employed administrative staff about intellectual property, the procedure for protecting that property and what researchers can do to get a patent, which is the ultimate goal. He added that the goal of this project is also to raise awareness of the importance of intellectual property.

Asst. Prof. Ana Špirić, PhD, from the Institute for Intellectual Property of BH said that the procedure of protecting intellectual property and the patent itself is regulated by the Law on Patents and that the legislation is harmonized with the regulations of countries in the region and the European models. She stated that the issue of intellectual property management is important for the development of entrepreneurship at universities.

During the workshop, held at the Rectorate of the University of Banja Luka, distinguished lecturers talked about topics such as: Protection of Intellectual Property in Horizon Projects; Commercialization of Intellectual Property; From Research Results to Patents - the Experience of Our Teachers, and many other issues in the field of intellectual property.