Happy World Intellectual Property Day!

Since 2000, 26 April is the day when World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated around the globe, highlighting how intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright) can boost creativity and innovation. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), intellectual property (IP) points to "creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols, names and images used in commerce".
 
Date 2016-04-26 Author BIK Coordination Team
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The theme for this year's edition is ‘Digital creativity: culture reimagined' exploring the future of culture in the digital age. In its coordinator capacity, WIPO will be looking into how a balanced and flexible intellectual property system helps to ensure that those working in the creative sector receive the proper recognition for their work. This theme is based on the fact that the current digital environment has been breaking down cultural borders and barriers, bringing almost everything into easier reach for all citizens. Nonetheless, re-shaping of culture distribution through digital technology comes with some challenges which must be acknowledged and properly tackled by all those benefiting from it.
 
In the EU, the debate on intellectual property has certainly been marked in the past months by the copyright discussions in the broader context of the Digital Single Market. On the same note of intellectual property in Europe, the European Patent Organisation has been also actively working supporting innovation, competitiveness and economic growth across Europe through their commitment to high quality and efficient services delivered under the European Patent Convention.
 
For more information on activities and events taking place during this celebration, see the World Intellectual Property Organization webpage.  
 
In our work on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) agenda, we advocate children and young people developing a range of digital literacy skills in our aim to make the internet a safer and better place for all. Respect of copyright and intellectual property is one such issue they need to be aware of, especially as young people become the creators of tomorrow through the many digital opportunities available to them. Visit the BIK Resource gallery to find a range of resources, in a variety of languages, to help raise awareness of these concepts in the classroom.

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