International Activities
Participation at IGEM and Meeting with the University of Malaya, Malaysia
IGEM is an international exhibition and conference of green technologies organized by the government of Malaysia. IGEM 2013 welcomed 60,000 visitors from about 60 countries, and more than 300 companies, universities and organizations participated in this event.
In the introductory presentation of WIPO GREEN at the event hall, Ms. Seshimo stressed to the universities and governmental organizations its status as a project operated by WIPO, an international organization, and also stressed to the private companies its advantage that no registration fee is required. She was thus able to arouse interest in this project among these parties. In turn, she received many questions as to the number of countries participating in WIPO GREEN and the number of green technologies registered by Malaysian entities. Unfortunately, it was revealed that WIPO GREEN was barely known of among the visitors and participants. This made us keenly aware of the necessity to enhance the promotion activities, but we saw that Ms. Seshimo's explanation proved successful in gaining support for WIPO GREEN.
Before attending IGEM 2014, Ms. Seshimo visited the University of Malaya, Center of Innovation and Commercialization (UMCIC), an organization for promoting IP management and the commercialization of inventions at the University of Malaya. At this center, Ms. Seshimo provided the personnel in charge with an introductory explanation regarding the WIPO GREEN project and the registration process for the technology database, and also exchanged opinions on the registration of partners. WIPO GREEN may have been most appealing for its concept as a "platform for transfer of technology packages" among others. In her explanation, Ms. Seshimo emphasized that technology transfer cannot be completed only by licensing patents, as providing know-how and human support is also requisite. This point seems to have been easily understandable for the UMCIC, which has been struggling in supporting business start-ups.
