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LESANZ Bulletin

LESANZ publishes a Bi-monthly Bulletin specifically written for LESANZ members and others with interests in technology transfer and licensing of intellectual property. To view current edition click here.

From the President’s Desk

The next two years will be exciting ones for LESANZ as we work towards having the LESI conference in Auckland in late March/early April 2012. Themed “Commercialising innovation to save the World” the conference will be green themed and aims to be carbon neutral. Expressions of interest to present sessions and/or plenary speakers at the conference will shortly be formally welcomed by announcement at the LES USA/Canada Annual Meeting in Chicago in late September.  If you know of a great speaker, or can think of a great topic consistent with the theme upon which you would welcome some enlightenment, please let us know on admin@lesanz.org.au or cw@tcc.co.nz

Keeping a professional body going is hard work especially when the board of the organisation are volunteers all of whom have a “day job” which invariably keeps them long hours at their desks. Having to reinvent the administrative wheel every time there is a change in office bearers can be an additional disincentive to becoming involved. We’ll be working hard in the next 6 months to capture and control the organisation’s intellectual capital to make the task of being a board member just that much easier. Together with other initiatives by the Executive in the last 6 months, becoming a new office holder of the organisation and being able to pick up where the last office holder left off should, in future, be a piece of cake. Thanks to the tireless Beth, we now have our own “intranet” where an e-manual of position descriptions and roles will be created, as will e-manuals for Regional Committees for the conduct and management of regional events. Better still, a viewable history of minutes of the organisation, calendars and financial records will also be available to all those who choose to step up to the plate. With 3 year management agreements in place for the conduct of our annual conference and for PR activity, board members in future will be able to focus on strategic planning and making sure we deliver unique advantages to our members.

We continue to gain exposure through the media with President Elect Dr Mark Horsburgh, in an article published in Australian Life Scientist and then again on BiotechnologyNews.net, controversially referring to Tony Abbott as “Captain No” and criticising both mainstream Australian political parties for their lack of attention to innovation policy. Frik de Beer, our NZ Trustee, had articles published in NZ Lawyer and in the Independent Financial Review calling for the NZ government to give some attention to IP policy too. This increased publicity is having some benefits. IP Australia has sought to actively engage with LESANZ this year seeing the organisation, as the “doers” in the innovation space, as having a unique perspective on innovation. IPRIA has also realised that our membership base is very widespread and represents a broad spectrum of views. Early next year LESANZ will support an ARC funded IPRIA study into patents and markets – more about which you’ll hear later.

Last time the Bulletin went to press we were just about to head off to Adelaide. Thanks to Megan Ryder and Johanna Churchill a really intellectually stimulating program was presented to an enthusiastic and engaged audience. Of course, although the successful Adelaide conference has only just passed, the NSW committee ably led by Philip Heuzenroder is already working towards our next annual meeting in Sydney. Save these dates: 31 March – 2 April at The Westin in Sydney themed Licensing Across Society.  Sponsorship opportunities will shortly be announced. As I did in Adelaide, I also encourage you to consider networking with your peers overseas by attendance at a suitably located conference. The Pan European conference in Budapest in June not only contrasted the sharp differences in innovation practice between Europe and the US, but also presented a picture perfect venue. Consider seriously the forthcoming LES USA/Canada meeting in Chicago in September. You’ll learn lots – I promise!.

Until next time……..

Karen Sinclair, President

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LESANZ Annual Conference 2010 Post Report

The LESANZ  2010 Annual Conference was held from 22 to 24 April at the InterContinental Adelaide.  The theme for this successful conference was “Public Good and International Property Rights - Grant Me a Monopoly for the Benefit of All”.  The programme to the conference was jam packed with a range of dynamic speakers on a range of diverse topics.  Keynote speakers included Dr Patrick O’Reilly, President LES International, The Honourable Richard Marles MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Innovation, Tony Clark  CEO of Swags for Homeless and Dr John O’Sullivan, CSIRO (recent winner of the Prestigious Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for 2009).

The social events for the conference included a dinner held at the stunning Mortlock Chamber Library with guest speak Dr Tim Cooper, CEO of the iconic South Australian Coopers Brewery.

The organising committee for the conference would like to thank all delegates and speakers for helping to make the conference both stimulating and entertaining.  We look forward to seeing you all at the 2011 Annual Conference in Sydney on 31 March – 2 April next year!

Should I attend the next LESANZ Annual Conference?

YES!.  LESANZ delivers a world class annual conference each year.  If you have not yet decided whether to attend our next annual conference to be held in Sydney in 2011, read some of the delegate feedback we received after this year's conference in Adelaide. 

“As a first time attendee and speaker at the LESANZ conference l was pleasantly surprised by the event – l thoroughly enjoyed the conference, thought it was topic driven and had a real flare! I would definitely pay money to attend next year”.

“I was a first time attendee at the LESANZ  2010 conference and thought that it was a valuable event to attend – the content was good, relevant and obviously well prepared.”

“The networking opportunities were excellent, and l will definitely be attending next year in Sydney.”

“Staff that attended found the conference useful and interesting and were positive about the event as a whole.”

“I found that the conference had an appropriate balance between content covering broad themes and more targeted sessions.”

“This was my first time attending and speaking at the LESANZ conference. I was only at the conference for the afternoon of my session – but from what l saw – the content was both interesting and insightful...”

“The theme was a good one and the networking opportunities were useful as well.”

“Networking opportunities were great – a good way to meet industry contacts in person.”

Johanna Churchill

Chair 2010 Conference OrganisingCommittee

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Advertising charges and deadline for next edition

Deadline for articles and advertising for the next edition is 1st October 2010

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