World Intellectual Property Day 2024
World Intellectual Property Day, 26th of April 2024
World IP Day is celebrated annually on 26 April to increase general understanding of intellectual property. This provides a unique opportunity for IP Offices worldwide to highlight the role that IP rights, such as Patents, Trade Marks, Industrial Designs, and Copyright play in encouraging innovation and creativity. This year’s theme is on “IP and the Sustainable Development Goals - Building our common future with innovation and creativity”.
In collaboration with Enterprise Ireland, IPOI contacted companies who operate within the sustainability sphere and who used intellectual property as part of their business strategy. We also contacted there inspiring students from Loreto Secondary School, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin who won the Best Group Award at the 2024 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition and who have patented their invention.
We are delighted to showcase Olivia O’Shea, Abigail O’ Brien-Murray and Erica O’ Brien-Murray, students from Loreto Secondary School, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. These inspiring young innovators won the prestigious Best Group Award at the 2024 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with their project “Let’s Save the Common Ash! A Continued Study”. In particular they recognised that protecting IP was a necessary step in securing their treatment for future relevance ahead of the competition. They were granted the patent for their innovative treatment for ash tree dieback that slows the disease up to 92% with no effect on the environment. 950 species of woodland and trees are dependent on the Ash Tree and if the Ash Tree is unable to thrive, 45 species could end up extinct.
Their videos attached outlines their SDG and IP story
loreto-girls-video-for-world-ip-day-with-pics-at-end.mp4 (size 45 MB)
Highlighting the Clean Water and Sanitation SDG are TelLab & Aquamonitrix from Tullow, Co. Carlow, who specialise in water quality and are dedicated to providing water resource managers with accurate, simple and affordable analysers for nutrient monitoring. John Mc Grath, Sales Director explains the importance of intellectual property for their company, from when they registered their first Intellectual Property to how the application of their technology contributes to providing clean water. See their video on our social media platforms.
Highlighting the SDGs of Climate Change and Life on Land are i0/AGRI from Canningstown, Co. Cavan, who specialise in the innovative task of eliminating and controlling odours and emissions which allows farmers to increase productivity levels while protecting the environment. Co-founder Sandra Thompson outlines what they do, why they decided to register their intellectual property rights and how they contribute to the Sustainable development goals.
MyGug are a Co Cork based company who provided us with there thoughts on why sustainability and intellectual property are important to them.
MyGug Ltd has developed a hard tech solution to food waste challenges in response to this crisis and for the sector where it is most needed. Our solution MyGug is a small scale food digester which converts food waste to a renewable energy for use in small commercial and educational settings.
"The creative process and resultant innovation is crucial to the success of our business as it protects the work ensuring high quality of product and protects our brand which values trust quality and reliability as standard for our customers. Our innovation is a result of a long journey of work and this journey continues. Without IP the value of that work and the product is compromised."
"Sustainability is at the centre of the motivation to create the product in the first place and our ambition is to contribute significantly to solving the problem of our dependence on fossil fuels for energy, outside services for food waste management and food security".
#WorldIPDay #EnterpriseIreland #intellectualproperty #euipo