HHL Expert Talk: Local Entrepreneurship, Global Innovation and Intellectual Property

While the birth of a startup company may be local, in the city or community of its founders, almost all entrepreneurial technology ventures quickly face pressures to go global. Technological innovation is an international phenomenon and hence, if they wish to flourish, companies (including young, small enterprises) in the business of commercializing new technology must typically compete in global markets and collaborate with partners internationally. At the same time, success in the business of commercializing technology also requires prowess in the management of intellectual property (IP). This principle applies to both large established corporations and entrepreneurial ventures. Success in appropriating value from technological innovation therefore requires companies to employ intelligent strategies for managing IP—such as patent rights—internationally, not just in the home market. An analogous situation exists for nations. The wealth of countries whose economies are wedded to international trade in knowledge-intensive goods and services depends substantially on the ability of their home-grown innovators to generate local value from their global IP assets.

In this talk Professor Willoughby will discuss the challenges faced by both companies and countries in generating local wealth from international technology business.

• Do young entrepreneurial ventures need to worry about IP, or is it mainly only an issue for large, mature corporations?
• What does it mean for an entrepreneurial technology venture to have an “IP strategy”?
• Do differences in their levels of international IP activity really affect the relative levels of economic development of countries and, if so, to what degree?
• Is it importnat for general managers of companies to have expertise in the management of intellectual property? … or should the management of IP be left to specialized lawyers?
• What are the implications for the curricula of graduate business programs?

These and other questions will be addressed during the presentation.

About our HHL Expert
Prof. Dr. Kelvin Willoughby is Professor at the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. He is an expert on the management of intellectual property, technology-based entrepreneurship, and strategic planning for technology-based industry development. He holds doctorates in both strategic management and technology studies, and a masters degree in intellectual property law. In addition to his experience with start-ups, Professor Willoughby has extensive experience as a university professor, researcher and industry consultant in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and Russia; and has directed internationally prominent graduate programs in both business administration and the management of technological innovation. He is active as both an academic and as a trainer and advisor to industry and government. hhl.de/willoughby

About our Moderator
Our Expert Talk series is moderated by Sigrid Fischer, HHL’s Manager Alumni Relations. Sigrid studied Journalism and Performance Psychology at Indiana University, USA, and at the University of Edinburgh, UK. As an internationally experienced relations expert and moderator, she has been enriching our series since April 2020.

HHL Expert Talk – Recognized Expertise on a Global Market
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management reacts to current developments in society and economy. The Virtual HHL Expert Talk series addresses latest and key topics in its research and academic programs to a broad audience. The HHL Expert Talk offers an open and further education and know-how transfer to the whole HHL community and beyond. This also applies to the ongoing corona crisis. The current events in the series will discuss the pandemic and its impacts on society, economics, sports, and culture.

The talks are held in English.
Interested in further events of the HHL Expert Talk series? Please check the HHL Event Calendar.
Please notice that we will record this event (film) without showing participants or chats and use this material internally and/or externally in accordance with § 23 KunstUrHG and article 6 par. 1f) DSGVO.