For the first time, Salzburg Research hosted “forum invent” on 18 October 2017 and brought the series of events around patent protection and intellectual property to Salzburg.

The forum invent is a compact information and discussion platform on the subject of intellectual property and patents. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Austria, this is a valuable aid for all questions concerning the protection of intellectual property.

The Bohmann publishing house and the trade magazine “invent – the magazine for intellectual property” organizes this series of events since 2014. Which patent and brand protection do I lead my product to success with? How do I protect my intellectual property in national and international competition? Which partners and funding are there for patents, trademarks and intellectual property?

High-profile lecturers from the field gave answers to these and other questions for one afternoon. Siegfried Reich (Managing Director Salzburg Research) opened the lecture series with a comparison of exploitation and open source. Klaus Loibner (Austrian Patent Office) gave basic information, such as when it is a patentable invention, or when actually the patent right on the one hand or the model protection law, the copyright or the trademark right on the other hand takes effect. Karin Ruzak (FFG) presented with “Patent.Scheck” a funding program for the first patent examination. Katarina Casals Ide (Anwälte Burger & Partner Rechtsanwalt GmbH) provided guidance on how to protect ideas that are not patentable and gave important information for confidentiality agreements. Ralf Benda (W & H Dentalwerk Bürmoos GmbH) explained the advantages of having his own in-house IP area and Thomas Bergmüller (Head of R & D at Authentic Vision) presented “Authentic Vision”, a smartphone-based product protection solution with randomly generated holograms. Finally, Ramona Schwab (ITG Innovaiton Service Salzburg) presented the “Innovations- und Technologietransfer Salzburg GmbH” as the first point of contact for IPR in Salzburg. Through training and events, basic knowledge about brands and ideas protection is passed on there.

The informational afternoon was opened by Gabriele Ambros (President of Research Austria) and Salzburg Research Director Siegfried Reich. The moderator was Stefan Zwickl (editor-in-chief Invent). After the lectures, there was a get-together and interested people could exchange ideas with the speakers in one-on-one talks.