In support of the University’s mission of knowledge exchange, the Technology Transfer Office has partnered with The Federation of Internationale des Conseils en Propriete Industrielle (FICPI) (in English – the International Federation of Industrial Property Attorneys) to run the South East Asian Drafting (SEAD) training course on patent drafting for the first time in Hong Kong. The course is divided into three segments with 5 internationally renowned patent attorneys serving as instructors. Segment 1 is a series of tutorials and workshops for 5 days; Segment 2 is for students to work on four drafting exercise by correspondence; Segment 3 is a second series of tutorials and workshops over 5 days. The course is intended for the benefit of legal practitioners, patent administrators, researchers and technology transfer professionals.

The first segment of the course was held from April 12-16, 2010. It was attended by 37 participants from Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand from legal, industry, research, patent administration and technology transfer backgrounds. All of them will return for Segment 3 for another week in September 20, 2010. We hope by bringing this practical course more easily accessible to our colleagues in Greater China, we will not only be able to help increase the pool of personnel trained in the art of drafting patent specifications but also building a wider community working in technology transfer.