Phone: +34 958002500
E-mail: bjurgens@agenciaidea.es
Could you briefly describe your core expertise and field of activity within the Enterprise Europe Network? What are key services you offer to your clients?
I work for more than 20 years in the intellectual property (IP) related services department of the development agency for the Spanish autonomous region of Andalusia (IDEA), one of the biggest regions in Spain. Our agency is member of the Enterprise Europe Network since its creation, and also member of patent related networks like the PATLIB network from the European Patent Office. Having an academic background in information science I specialized in the field of patent analytics and patent searches and thus my core expertise in the Enterprise Europe Network lies in the offering of patent search related services to our clients, like novelty, state of the art or freedom to operate searches, all important and demanded services that help our clients in their innovation process.
What does it mean to you to be a European IP Helpdesk Ambassador? And what do you like most about it?
For me, to be an European IP Helpdesk ambassador is a recognition of our experience in the field and is a powerful opportunity to network with other IP experts from all over Europe. Being part of this network gives me the possibility to help our clients in IP issues in countries abroad which can be very important and useful in our work in the Enterprise Europe network (e.g. when dealing with a transnational technology transfer).
How would you describe the internal interaction and cooperation with your Enterprise Europe Network colleagues?
Between the Enterprise Europe Network colleagues in our consortia in Andalusia we have a fluid cooperation, furthermore on a national and international level we also interact very well, for example with my Spanish ambassador colleagues and colleagues from the Enterprise Europe Network of Madrid we organize for the second time an IP training course for colleagues from all over Spain.
In your opinion, what are current “hot” topics and questions related to Intellectual Property (IP) in your region/country?
In my opinion a major hot topic that affects IP in our country (but also worldwide) is the incursion of Artificial Intelligence in many processes, from helping in the online registration process of IP titles, to support in patent drafting (i.e., ChatGPT for patents), till major improvements in patent databases (semantic searches). All in all a very dynamic field, that might change the way we work as IP professionals.
What are major challenges SMEs face with regard to IP? And what kind of support is needed, you think?
In our region for many SMEs the importance of protecting their intellectual assets via intellectual property rights is unfortunately still not very well understood and thus I think that one of our main challenges as ambassadors together with my other colleagues from the development agency is to increase the awareness amongst the SMEs, e.g. by organising training events and by helping the SME in the whole process, from identification of their intangible assets till its registering (trademark or design) or filing (patents).