About this Event
Join us for this timely seminar on how the Government's new 2026 IP Management Policy reshapes incentives, ownership, and the commercialisation of publicly funded research. The seminar is at 5:30PM on Thursday 23 April, at AJ Park (AJ Park, Level 22, Aon Centre, 1 Willis Street, Wellington 6011) and online.
Doors open at 5.30PM for networking, with drinks and light refreshments. The seminar will begin at 6PM and conclude at 7PM, including time for questions. Online attendance is also available: Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5905040726?omn=82091483531
About the speakers:
Simon Wakeman
Simon Wakeman is a Principal Policy Advisor in the Innovation Policy team at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), where he has led a range of initiatives to increase the rate of innovation in New Zealand, including the IP Management Policy. Simon holds degrees in both law and economics from the University of Otago, and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the New Zealand public service in 2014, he was a professor at ESMT Berlin (Germany), where he taught courses in Business Strategy and Capturing Value from Innovation in MBA and executive programmes and published on technology commercialisation strategy.
Adrian Evans
Adrian Evans is a Senior Associate at AJ Park, and a solicitor and registered trans-Tasman patent attorney. He advises clients on patents, designs, and intellectual property strategy in the engineering and ICT fields. Adrian has worked in private practice, at the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, and in university research commercialisation at Wellington UniVentures. He holds degrees in law, electrical engineering, and science from Victoria University of Wellington, and writes and speaks regularly on intellectual property law in New Zealand.
Seminar summary:
With the Government’s new Intellectual Property (IP) Management Policy for universities and public research organisations coming into effect on 1 July 2026, this seminar examines the economic and legal issues that shape the commercialisation of IP created within research organisations. Simon Wakeman will discuss what economic theory suggests for ownership and control of IP matters for commercialisation, and what the IP Management Policy’s changes to the allocation of rights are intended to achieve. He will place these issues in the context of the wider challenges researchers and research organisations face in commercialising IP. Adrian Evans will complement this with an analysis of the legal treatment of ownership of research-generated IP, including relevant case law and legal principles.
Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5905040726?omn=82091483531
Meeting ID: 590 504 0726
Register now to secure your spot
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
AJ Park, 1 Willis Street, Wellington, New Zealand
NZD 0.00
