Gatineau – The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), successfully hosted its 26th annual CIPO-WIPO Executive Program from October 7 to 11, 2024, in the National Capital Region. This Program brought together senior officials from 9 intellectual property (IP) offices around the world to strengthen their skills in IP management and governance.
On October 7th, 2024, the CEO of CIPO Mr. Konstantinos Georgaras and the Deputy Director General (DDG) of WIPO Mr. Hasan Kleib signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on delivering joint training for senior officials from IP Offices around the world. The MOU solidifies collaboration between the two organizations through the revamped CIPO-WIPO Executive Program which started 27 years ago.
Since its inception in 1997, CIPO has collaborated with WIPO to offer an annual Executive Program, sharing management and governance techniques with IP offices from developing countries. The Program’s objective is to provide capacity building and a forum for exchange between senior IP officials from developing countries and CIPO. This annual event has become a key platform for international collaboration.
The 2024 Program was re-designed to address current challenges, with sessions focused on reducing backlogs, improving quality control, and introducing new services to better serve stakeholders. 2024 also marked the first in-person edition since the pandemic. CIPO was honored by the attendance of WIPO’s DDG Hasan Kleib to mark this special occasion.