To fulfil its mission for the training and continuing education of FICPI members and others interested in the best practices of Intellectual Property protection, The FICPI Academy organises local and regional programmes.
SEAD™
SEAD™ is an esteemed and popular IP drafting curriculum created by FICPI’s Training & Education Committee.
The most recent course is taking place in Singapore and began in March 2024. SEAD™ 2024 is hosted by FICPI’s venue partner, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
SEAD™ follows the successful format started in Singapore in 1997, in Australia and Europe in 1999, in Latin America in 2017 and in the Philippines in 2019/20.
SEAD™ is divided into three segments and is devoted to teaching the art of patent drafting.
Tutoring is delivered by experienced practitioners from various jurisdictions including Europe, USA, and Canada. The tutors represent technical fields from electrical engineering, mechanics, biology, and chemistry. They all have experience in teaching and tutoring our patent drafting courses.
FICPI/WIPO Partnership
This initiative, a partnership between FICPI and WIPO, the global forum for intellectual property and policy, offers IP drafting training aimed primarily at countries that currently have a low level of filings or limited resources to implement training.
General awareness about the use of national and international patent systems has significantly improved during the last decade. At the same time, many IP offices have been facing low quality patent applications received from local applicants.
Usually, such a challenge is addressed by improving the quality of IP services offered by professional representatives or through policy measures, such as reviewing legal and social conditions of patent agents, and the provision of training.
Many developing countries, however, continue to lack qualified patent agents for systemic reasons.
With a view to providing more practical assistance to IP offices for a better regulation of the patent agent profession, and for raising the skill-base of local patent agent candidates and/or patent agents, the FICPI/WIPO partnership created international patent drafting training.
More details about WIPO drafting programme, developed in conjunction with FICPI, including a downloadable brochure, can be found here.
Trainee Exchange/Hosting Programme
The newest programme from The FICPI Academy is a trainee exchange and hosting project in which trainees or young practitioners are offered the opportunity to undertake in-house training within the host firm.
Trainees would benefit from work experience in another jurisdiction, with an opportunity to learn about the IP laws and practices of another part of the world, as well as exposure to alternative office systems.
Participating firms benefit from their young employees developing new skills and professional contacts.
Further information is available here.