The Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) , Greek partner of IPMED held the 5th awareness session on Tuesday 7th December 2021 virtually with a total of  37 attendees representing start-ups, MSMEs, young and women entrepreneurs, consultants, patent attorneys, technology transfer offices to facilitate them access to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), enhance commercialization, and strengthen IPR-related knowledge and awareness.

Mr. Konstantinos Moraitidis, member of the Administrative Committee of the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) welcomed the participants and underlined the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for business.

Mr. Antonios Boumpoulas, TCCI Head of Studies and Research Department explained IPMED's mission along with its activities.

Mrs. Konstantinos Vavekis, EQE qualified European Patent Attorney, experienced in the protection, financial valuation and commercial exploitation of research results, presented the issue “Calculation of the value of a patent’’. More analytically, Mr. Vavekis after briefly presenting the types of Intellectual property (patents, industrial designs, trademarks, utility models, trade secrets etc.), describing the procedure for applying for a European patent and the strategies that an enterprise can develop for exploit it, focused on the purpose of valuing a patent, patent search and how information can be obtained,financial methods of patent valuation, assessment of the legal validity of a patent,valuation through litigation (calculation of damages), and a case study of patent valuation was discussed.

Mr. Emmanuel Vlachogiannis, 1^st TCCI’s Vice-President, who also attended the event, noticed that the method of patent’s value assessment depends on the reason why this evaluation is requested (for accounting reasons or for selling the patent, grant licensees etc). He also stressed on the importance of correctly filling the application for a patent and especially the exact description of the “claims” in collaboration with the patent attorney.

IPMED project is implemented by a consortium of organizations where JEDCO in Jordan is the leader, and in partnership with Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Greece, FILSE in Italy, Agora Institute in Spain and Tunis Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Tunisia. The project's budget is1.194 million euros, funded by the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme for the Mediterranean Basin within the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI CBCMED), to develop small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), promote economic and social development and support innovative entrepreneurs’ projects.