While the calendar is packed full of useless holidays like “Peanut Butter Lovers Day†(seriously- it’s March 1st), I wanted to make sure the day celebrating World Intellectual Property stands apart. True that when someone talks about intellectual property (IP) most people hear the voice of Charlie Brown‘s school teacher,‘Wah wah woh wah wah.†Or they think to themselves, ‘It’s legalese,’ ‘it’s boring‘ or ‘I don’t understand it.’ So, it begs the question, why would we want to celebrate it?
Well, it turns out IP is not only important but it really is interesting. There is strategy, methodology and incentivizing that makes each individuals’ IP story unique. It’s the management of these innovations and creative works that allow for individuals and companies to financially benefit from their ideas, investments in research and encourages ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking. AKA: How to make money from their ideas. This means IP is one piece of an important puzzle incentivizing people to create or to be creative and innovate. Without it we wouldn’t have most (if not all) of the luxuries we enjoy today like Starbucks Blonde Roast, Facebook addictions or, our office favorite, Spanks.
To celebrate this important piece of global innovation, the World Intellectual Property Organization recognizes IP each year on April 26. They have deemed the theme this year ‘Creativity: The Next Generation’. Challenging people with questions like:
• What is the future beyond the future?
• What new music will emerge from a garage somewhere to rock the world’s dance floors or unnerve the academy?
• Who are tomorrow’s great artists and innovators? How are they working; how do they create?
Since they’ve asked, I believe the future of creativity requires more collaboration. Not just collaboration of a team with similar skill sets, but teams of multi-disciplinary talents, geographic locations and more. The future is demanding more creativity and innovation to meet the challenges we’re facing.
OK, so I’m in. I’ll celebrate the innovators, creators, artists and more. Here’s to a future of creativity! Join us for our local celebration and help us define solutions for these challenges.
What: Traklight Celebrates World Intellectual Property Day
When: April 28 8:30 am-10:00 am
Where: CEI Gateway, Phoenix, AZ
Why: Celebrate the innovators and creators
Who: All those with a passion for innovation!
Come dressed as your favorite inventor and you’ll be entered to win a free 3 year Collaborative IP Vault on Traklight.com! RSVP to mwitham@traklight.com, Traklight Client Engagement.