An innovation system is an integrated and interconnected network of institutions and actors which, together, produce, diffuse and apply knowledge for economic and societal good. The two main pillars of this system are the research base of a country and its enterprise sector.
The government is also an important actor as a facilitator and an innovator in its own right. The intellectual property system plays an important role in this framework.
This webinar will look at the role played by intellectual property system in facilitating an innovative economy and the services provided by WIPO in supporting its member states make more effective use of the intellectual property.
Relator: Mr. Giovanni Napolitano & Ms. Tamara Nanayakkara
Deputy-Director & Counsellor | Transition and Developed Countries Department | WIPO
Mr. Giovanni Napolitano graduated in economics in 1985 and received his Master’s Degree in Science and Technology Policy from the Science Policy Research Unit (University of Sussex, UK) in 1987. After 7 years spent at the Italian National Research Council working on science policy matters, he joined the Italian Competition Authority in 1994. He worked there in different capacities, first handling investigations in the communications, transport and pharmaceutical sectors and then holding managerial positions as director of the Authority’s Secretariat and of the International Affairs Department. In November 2010, he joined the Intellectual Property and Competition Policy Division of the WIPO (United Nations) where he works on policy issues concerning the IP/Competition interface. Between 2015 and 2017, he was Acting Director of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Entrepreneurship Support Division (SESD). Since June 2018, he is Deputy-Director of the Transition and Developed Countries Department (TDC).
Ms. Tamara Nanayakkara is Counsellor at the SMEs and Entrepreneurship Support Division, Department for Transition and Developed Countries of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, Switzerland. Since she joined WIPO in January 1994 she worked in the Cooperation for Development Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Economic Analysis, Forecast and Research Division and the Least Developed Countries Division. Before joining WIPO she worked as an Attorney at Law and as an Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka. She holds a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Law from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and a Master's Degree in International Management from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
