Senior intellectual property and business development experts from Google, Nokia and Sony have been confirmed to speak at a creative industries and computer games conference being held in Dundee next week.
The Digital Spark conference – being hosted by the city's University of Abertay – is bringing together legal experts and content producers to help businesses protect their intellectual property and plan for a profitable, sustainable future.
The conference is to be opened by Scottish Government Culture Minister, Fiona Hyslop, and is to then feature Google Europe’s senior product counsel, Trevor Callaghan; Nokia’s chief legal officer, Louise Pentland; and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s IP and technology director, Hogarth Andall.
Says Dr Margaret Hartnett, conference organiser and IP manager at Abertay University: “Abertay University is rightly recognised as a hub of creative activity and intellectual property generation. Digital Spark takes our strengths of working with business, and gives creative companies unparalleled access to expert creative and legal minds.
“Creating fantastic games, software or creative content is just the first step towards making a successful business. Unless you can take that product to market in a safe way, and not risk inadvertent copying or your work being counterfeited, the future success of your business may be at risk.”
She added: “This exciting new conference, which still has a handful of spaces left, gives people from the computer games and creative industries the opportunity to really take control of their intellectual property. By clearly laying out the challenges and the risks, Digital Spark will help to empower creative industry professionals.
“With speakers from Google, Nokia, Sony and leading legal firms like Hardwicke, Saul Ewing and Thorntons, Digital Spark is a unique opportunity for an intensive two-day introduction to the complexities and huge opportunities involved in successful IP management.”
The event is taking place next Wednesday and Thursday.
Other speakers include Michael Rawlinson, director general of games trade body ELSPA; Tim Collins, head of commercial development for children's entertainment at publisher, DC Thomson; and Colin Macdonald, former studio manager at Realtime Worlds.
For more information, and to register, click here.
