Manchester Regional Meeting 2023

Audience

Programme & Speakers

• 12:30 - 13:30 - Registration & Networking Lunch
• 13:30 - 13:40 - Introduction from the chair

  Speakers

  

  Robert Jackson, Dehns

  Robert Jackson, Dehns

  Rob is a UK Chartered Patent Attorney, a European Patent Attorney and Patent Attorney Litigator.

• 13:40 - 14:25 - Reflective practice in CPD: practical advice on the new CPD

  Speakers

  

  Debbie Slater, Prevayl Ltd

  Debbie Slater, Prevayl Ltd

  Debbie works as a patent attorney with Prevayl Ltd: a new company developing wearable technologies.  She is a member of the CIPA Council, vice chair of the CIPA education committee and co-Editor of the CIPA Patents Training Manual.

• 14:25 - 15:10 - Business Development- Question Time

  Speakers

  

  Michael Evans, BDforIP

  Michael Evans, BDforIP

  Michael works together with attorneys, intellectual property firms and departments around the world to help them realize their business development goals. He has specialized in delivering business opportunities in the IP legal field with both clients and associates around the world since 2003, establishing BDforIP in 2015. He has a proven track record in international sales, account management, and business development, as well as strong client-facing skills, experience at dealing at all levels of an organisation and identifying business opportunities.  Specialties: Business Development Mentorship / Client Retention / Client Growth / Soft Skills Training / Business Networking

• 15:10-15:40 - Refreshment Break
• 15:40 - 16:25 - AI and IP – two worlds collide

  Speakers

  

  Benni Pfundner, Kilburn & Strode

  Benni Pfundner, Kilburn & Strode

  Benni is a patent attorney working in private practice who advises both established businesses and early stage start-ups on how best to protect their intellectual property. His work to date includes developing patent drafting, prosecution and enforcement strategies for multi-national medical device, healthcare and aviation companies. He also assists trailblazing biotech, fintech and aerosol systems companies to create and develop well-rounded IP portfolios that support their business aims.

  A particular area of Benni’s expertise is his ability to advise clients on how to protect software-based inventions, particularly in relation to patenting algorithms, software applications and machine learning processes. He frequently works with companies in the blockchain, distributed ledger and AI spaces, where cutting edge computer science meets healthcare, business and finance.

• 16:25 - 17:10 - CIPA’s influence on CPTPP accession

  Speakers

  

  Lee Davies, Chief Executive, CIPA

  Lee Davies, Chief Executive, CIPA

  Lee Davies has been the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) since February 2012. Prior to this, Lee was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Institute for Learning (IfL), the professional body for further education teachers. Lee’s professional background is in engineering (mechanical services) and further education teaching. Lee has experience of the governance of professional bodies, having served as the President of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) in 2011-12.
  Lee says that such a varied career, from apprentice plumber to CEO of CIPA, via organisations such as the Highbury College in Portsmouth, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and IfL, has left him a little confused about his professional identity. Lee now identifies as an ‘association leader’, although the concept of association leadership is, in Lee’s words, “woefully undervalued and little recognised in the UK”. Lee is a passionate advocate for the association sector and is President and Chair of the Institute of Association Leadership (IAL), where he leads the Chief Executives’ Forum.

• 17:10 - 17:20 - Closing Remarks from the Chair
• 17:20 - 19:00 - Drinks Reception with canapes