Welcome Message

On behalf of the Academy, it gives me great pleasure to extend a warm invitation to join us for the 2nd Global Forum on Intellectual Property (GFIP) to be held at the Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore from 8 to 9 January 2009.

It seems only yesterday when 500 international IP professionals from over 25 countries were gathered in Singapore for the Academy’s inaugural flagship event – the GFIP in August 2006.  We were very fortunate to have the support of many leading members of the global IP community, including representatives from some of the world’s most respected IP law firms, from MNCs, and from the judiciary, as speakers, moderators and panelists.

GFIP 2009 is shaping up to be the foremost multidisciplinary IP conference in the Asia Pacific region for 2009. Once again, it  will provide a vibrant,  stimulating and interactive forum for all in the global IP community to exchange views on critical IP issues, as well as providing valuable up-to-date information and insights  on those issues for IP and business professionals from all around the world.

We live in a world with increasingly fewer boundaries to information and collaboration. Today’s IP and business opportunities exist on a global scale, and the IP community is increasingly called upon to develop and manage intellectual property assets around the world under extremely dynamic and volatile economic conditions. Business leaders and the IP professionals who support them must continually strive to bridge all borders in an endlessly shifting IP landscape, tapping into worldwide resources and executing seamless business processes in order to succeed in the global knowledge-based economy.  This makes being part of a global network of IP professionals more valuable than ever.

It is against this backdrop that GFIP 2009 hopes to play a key role in re-forging these global ties across different disciplines and industries in IP– by providing an unparalleled opportunity and platform for gathering together in one place at one time all the major IP global players to help navigate the vast, fluid and murky waters of the Asia-Pacific IP Ecosystem; hopefully turning obstacles into opportunities of mutual interest at the lightning-quick speed of this new information age.

Like the inaugural GFIP, this second GFIP will have two showcase plenary sessions, and over 20 parallel sessions and roundtables.  As you will see from the preliminary programme, we have again been very fortunate indeed in attracting a wide variety of influential contributions from leading global IP experts.

To complement our professional development agenda, there will also be numerous opportunities for socialising, networking and catching up with old friends. And if that were not enough, you have the delights of Unique Singapore when the time comes to relax.

Singapore is a spectacular metropolis, showcasing some of the region’s finest architecture, museums, culture, cuisine and commerce. It continues to fascinate and excite, with something for everyone.

We look forward to your active participation in GFIP 2009. Needless to say, we will be pleased to welcome as well your accompanying family members.

For those who attended the inaugural GFIP, I look forward to welcoming you back to Singapore for GFIP 2009 to savour, once again, the warm friendships that were made or renewed at the last GFIP.

For those of who are thinking of attending GFIP for the first time in 2009, I urge you to save these dates now and look forward to meeting you.

See you soon in Singapore.

David Llewelyn