Greetings from Greensboro!

Have arrived safely in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The hospitality, as would be expected, is exceptional and weather is a sunny 78F!

My lecture is in about a couple of hours time but I had the pleasure of visiting a number of specialist centres this morning which were ready to partner with Welsh institutions.

Given the world class nature of these organisations, it could begin to make a real difference if we can do some collaboartive work together.

Comments

Dr. Christopher Wood said…

Just read your excellent article on icWales - this paragraph in particular said it all (for me):

"Its success can be measured by the fact that to date, nearly 5,000 patents have been registered, with major inventions such as astroturf, 3D Ultrasound, cochlear implants and the UPC Barcode emerging from the research undertaken within the region."

While working as a law clerk I drafted probably around 10 patents for one of the big players in NC's Research Triangle, a hi-tech company with hundreds of patents.

I have since drafted over 200 patents for American inventors and companies. This experience has taught me that very little investment flows to companies or start-ups or university spin-offs that don't protect their inventions.

If the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) is really interested in turning Wales into a smart little country IT MUST PROMOTE PATENT PROTECTION in its HUGE university base. Right now there are single universities outside Wales, a fraction of the size of all the universities in Wales combined, that have MORE PATENTS than all of the universities in Wales combined. "How can this be?" Because Labour and Plaid Cymru in Wales are sleeping on the job.

April 26, 2008 9:12 pm

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