With current topics and high-level speakers, ABPI’s 42nd International Congress on Intellectual Property ⎯ the largest and most prominent event of its kind in Latin America ⎯ has started the countdown. On August 22 and 23, with the theme “Innovation and Society 5.0”, the event will feature two plenary sessions, 12 panels, and 10 table topics to debate the most relevant issues that permeate Intellectual Property.
This year, two keynote speakers will open the works on the two days of the 42nd Congress. On Monday at 9 a.m., the keynote speaker will be Stafford Masie, a technology angel investor and former Google CEO in South Africa. With more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry, Masie has worked at Telkom, Dimension Data, Novell, and Google, where he led the launch of the African versions of Google Search, Adwords, Google Maps and Street View, as well as the South-African version of YouTube. Currently, Masie lectures at business schools and advises companies operating in the blockchain, bitcoin, and cryptocurrency areas.
On Tuesday, August 23rd, also at 9 a.m., the keynote speaker will be the Rio de Janeiro economist Guilherme Benchimol, who will outline possible scenarios for the Brazilian economy. Founder and executive chairman of the Board of Directors of XP Investimentos, Benchimol created XP Investimentos in partnership with Marcel Maisonave. Today, the company is one of the largest brokerages in Brazil.
The two plenary sessions of Congress promise to be a success. Plenary I, on the first day of the event, will have the Special Secretary for Productivity and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy, Alexandre Ywata, as a speaker. Graduated in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Ywata holds a master’s degree in Statistics from the University of Brasília (UnB) and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University (USA). He was a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada. At Caixa Econômica Federal ⎯ Federal Savings Bank, he held the vice president of risks and internal controls and vice president of investment funds positions. Note: a preview of what will be discussed by the Special Secretary for Productivity and Competitiveness is in the article “The present and future of the BPTO”, recently published in the newspaper O Globo by the president of the ABPI, Gabriel Leonardos, who is the moderator of the plenary session. (read the full article in this issue).
At the closing Plenary II, the debate on “Public Civil Action for structuring the BPTO” will bring together ⎯ also under the moderation of the ABPI president ⎯ the intellectual property attaché for Mercosur, Guyana, and Suriname, David Kellis; the professor of Procedural Law Flávia Pereira Hill; lawyer and professor Gustavo Osna; and the lawyer Marcelo Mazzola, the debater of the plenary.
In addition to the plenary sessions and panels, other attractions promise to brighten the event. On Monday, August 22nd, there will be a lunch lecture organized by ABPI’s Diversity Committee with the theme “Diversity as an intangible value”. The speaker will be Professor Renato Ferreira, a Race Relations, Human Rights, and Diversity expert and a Law and Public Policy professor. The lunch lecture is exclusive to participants registered in the Congress’ in-person modality. If you wish to attend it, email abpi@abpi.org.br requesting an access code. Tickets start at R$300.
Also, on Monday at 8 p.m., Congress sponsors will offer a cocktail reception. Both events are an opportunity for attendees to interact and network.
The 3rd ABPI Patent of the Year Award will take place at the event’s closing. In this edition, in the spirit of Society 5.0, the award will honor professionals and companies that have patented their innovations concerning human well-being in Brazil.
