November 19 and 20, 2008

The “WIPO National Seminar on Methodologies, Best Practices and Lessons Learned in the Development of a National Intellectual Property Strategy” was organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Office and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in Belgrade on November 19 and 20, 2008 in the premises of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, 23, Terazije Str.

The Seminar had the aim to present the experiences of the countries in the region in the realization and enforcement of the national intellectual property strategies and to contribute to the awareness raising in the general public on the justification of the writing of the Intellectual Property Strategy of the Republic of Serbia. In that sense, the national experiences were presented by the directors of the intellectual property offices of Romania, Croatia, ex director of the Office of Great Britain, as well as representatives of Malta and Macedonia.
Dr. Radoslav Cerovic, Assistant Minister, Sector for Technological Development, Technology Transfer and Innovation System, Ministry for Science and Technology Transfer and Mrs. Vidosava Dzadzic vice president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, in their opening addresses underlined the significance of the writing of intellectual property strategy as indispensable for our country with the aim to encourage the knowledge based economy and support the systematic approach to scientific and technological development.
The reasons explaining the necessity for writing the national strategy of the Republic of Serbia from the point of view of the international organizations from the field of intellectual property and the modes of expert assistance to that effect were discussed in the presentations by the high representatives of WIPO and the European Patent Office (EPO). The importance of the national intellectual property strategy, as well as the types of strategies and different approaches of various national governments were discussed by  our intellectual property experts Mrs. Branka Totic, Acting Director of the Intellectual Property Office and prof.  Slobodan Markovic, Ph.D.
At the end of the first day of the Seminar, three working groups were formed in order to discuss the components of the national strategy, key actors for the development of a national strategy and assets and resources for the national strategy.
In the recommendations of the working groups, as well as during the plenary discussion, it has been concluded that one of the priority issues and most urgent tasks for the Republic of Serbia is the realization of the national intellectual property strategy. The representatives of all the stakeholders for IP strategy should participate in its development, starting from the highest institutions of government administration in Serbia, including almost all the ministries, courts, public prosecutor, the Customs, Police, inspections, chambers of commerce, associations of inventors, universities, institutes, spin-off companies at the faculties and technological centers, professional agencies, collective management organizations for copyright and related rights, representatives of industry, in particular small and medium enterprises, etc.
It has also been unanimously acclaimed that the chief coordinator and competent body in charge of this task should be the Intellectual Property Office.