The annual Festival of Design and Innovation (FoDI) opened on Thursday 20 June 2013. It was an opportunity for students from the School of Design, Engineering and Computing (DEC) to exhibit their innovations and creations. “A cake icing pen, a computer game controlled by brain power and a glamping pod were just some of the ground-breaking ideas and inventions on display at this year’s FoDI.”
During the academic year, final year students from DEC are paired off with final year students from the Law Department studying Intellectual Property (IP) Law. The law students are tasked with advising their DEC clients on the protection and exploitation of their innovative creations. The DEC clients then incorporate the advice which they have received from the ‘lawyers’ into their final year projects.
The IP-DEC Project brings Intellectual Property law to life. It gives an opportunity for law students to apply IP Law to real-life inventions and in turn it helps the DEC client to understand the importance of strong IP protection when preparing to protect, market and exploit their various creations.
The IP-DEC Project culminates with Awards for the Best DEC Student; Best IP Student and Best IP-DEC Group sponsored by Paul Turner, a retired Patent Attorney.
The Paul Turner Prize for the best IP-DEC Group was awarded at the opening night of the Festival. The prize was awarded to Law Students Danielle Foster and Luke Trim and DEC Students Benjamen Armstrong, George Burge, Joseph Carter, Markko Reinberg, Nicholas Cron, Thomas Clements and Thomas Reynolds.
Paul Turner with two of the winning DEC students and law students Luke Trim and Danielle Foster.
The Paul Turner Individual Prize for the Best IP Student went to Gemma Jefferies whilst the Paul Turner Prize for the Best DEC Student was awarded to Coco Canessa. The Individual Prize winners will officially receive their awards at the Graduation Ceremony in November 2013.
The opportunity to apply Intellectual Property Law to real-life scenarios and to real-life innovations together with helping the DEC clients to grasp the importance of IP law, makes this project truly unique.
The IP-DEC Project is co-ordinated by Dr. Dinusha Mendis (Law); Dr. Tania Humphries (DEC); and Dr. Reza Sahandi (DEC).
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