On 18-19 January 2024, the Faculty of Law had the pleasure to co-organize the Sixth IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference, which took place at the Foreign Trade University in Hanoi, Viet Nam. This year’s edition of the Conference welcomed over 250 scholars amongst speakers, chairs, and attendees from around the world (Asia-Pacific, North and South America, Europe, and Africa). The full program of the Conference is available here.

The Conference featured three keynote presentations. Mr Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam, who delivered the opening addresses at the Conference and focused on the current IP system of Viet Nam and discussed the policy options for the future. Mr Hasan Kleib, WIPO Deputy Director General of the Regional and National Development Sector, focused on WIPO capacity building and knowledge transfer. Mrs Johanna Hill, WTO, Deputy Director General, highlighted the need to rethink the links between trade, development, and the IP system today.

The IPIRA Network is an initiative created to provide a forum for IP researchers to discuss their papers and works-in-progress with other academics, practitioners, and policy makers. The Sixth IPIRA Conference was organized as a collaboration between the WIPO Academy, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Intellectual Property, Government Procurement, and Competition Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the following academic institutions: the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University Malaysia; the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia; Division of Business Law Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University; Texas A&M University School of Law and our Faculty of Law, University of Geneva.

Our Faculty of Law was represented at IPIRA 2024 by Prof. Irene Calboli, Academic Fellow at the Faculty of Law (who is the initiator of the IPIRA Network and Conference), and Prof. Jacques de Werra. This Sixth IPIRA Conference was, like the previous edition, a remarkably successful event. The organizers very much look forward to the Seventh IPIRA Conference that will take place in 2025. Information about 2025 will be communicated in due time on this website.