The Federal Council wants to modernise the Swiss patent system and adapt it to international standards. It opened the consultation procedure on the partial revision of the Patents Act on 14 October 2020. The consultation proposes that a patent should only be granted if the invention to be patented is novel and innovative. This would lead to more legal certainty and increase the value of...

Due to the current situation, the Swiss Innovation Forum (SIF) will not be held as a one-day conference this year, but will take place in virtual form from 17 - 19 November. True to its motto "It's Time To Innovate – NOW", giving up and cancelling is not an option for the leading Swiss innovation conference. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) is once again one...

The new Swiss Cleantech Report has been published. It presents sustainable innovations from Switzerland developed by SMEs, research institutes and start-ups. Drones for sustainable agriculture, technologies for recycling specific components, state-of-the-art energy management systems and an electric aircraft are just some of the many projects from a total of five categories. High-quality Swiss...

The Association of Intellectual Property Experts’ autumn conference is this year being offered as a one-day virtual event due to the current pandemic situation. For this reason, there will be no exhibition, although ip-search is still sponsoring the event. Anyone interested in the legal aspects of IP, licensing, etc. is invited to register for the event. You can find further information...

The AI-SDV 2020 Conference and exhibition is planned to be held at the Hotel Aston la Scala physically and through live-stream. Speakers, attendees and exhibitors are therefore invited to join live either in person or virtually. The conference has a number of interesting lectures lined up on its programme, with the focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digitization 2.0 (i.e. making companies,...

Improving the capacity to store electricity is playing a key role in the transition to clean energy technologies. Between 2005 and 2018, patenting activity in batteries and other electricity storage technologies grew at an average annual rate of 14% worldwide, four times faster than the average of all technology fields, according to a joint study published today by the European Patent Office...

Switzerland yesterday ratified the constitutional reform of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), thereby accepting an institutional reform drawn up by the member states. The reform amends ten international treaties to which Switzerland is a party, such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Patent Cooperation Treaty.“The constitutional reform of...

Switzerland is the most innovative country in the world for the tenth consecutive year. This is the result of the Global Innovation Index 2020 (GII), based on an assessment of 131 economies worldwide. Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom are next in the rankings. Compared to the EU, Switzerland outperforms in all areas. Switzerland exceeds expectations when it comes to...

Parallel to the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) 2020, the special event ‘SEF.Wachstum’ for young enterprises and SMEs will take place once again on 2 September 2020 in the afternoon. The programme includes inspiring presentations, for example by international negotiation expert and coach Matthias Schranner, as well as a panel discussion with Caspar Coppetti, co-founder of ‘On’. Within ten years, the...

Switzerland is a key location for innovation in the field of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. In fact, no other country applies to the European Patent Office (EPO) for as many 3D printing technology patents per capita and in relation to economic performance, a fact highlighted in a study published by the EPO on 13 July. Here is an overview of the results of the study: No other...