In continuation of the ongoing efforts to raise the awareness about intellectual property rights and how to protect it and to complement the previous such seminars, the Center of Excellence for Innovative Projects held a specialized panel discussion on protecting of intellectual property in the medical fields. The speakers were: Dr. Mohamed Al-Jaafari, Managing Director of Intellectual Property Commercialization Office (IPCO) at the Royal Scientific Society, Prof. Abeer Ghanim, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, and Eng. Nedaa Al-Rabbai, Officer at the Technology Transfer Office of the Center of Excellence. The seminar was moderated by Dr. Malik Hudeib, Assistant Director of the Center of Excellence. The meeting was attended by a distinguished group of faculty members from the medical colleges or those interested in the medical fields from the Faculty of Science and Arts.

At the beginning of the seminar, Eng. Al-Rabbai gave a summary about the Center of Excellence and the services it provides and reviewed the new intellectual property policy and instructions at JUST and the process of applying for a patent. After that, Dr. Al-Jaafari gave a lecture on the basics of protecting the intellectual property rights in the medical fields, their importance and types, and how they can be protected and invested in through partnerships, starting from joint research and all the way to business and investment partnerships. Then, Prof. Al-Ghannam shared her previous experiences of converting the outcomes of her scientific research in the field pharmaceutical sciences into pharmaceutical products and commercial companies via protecting them as intellectual properties, registering them as patents, and partnering with the industrial sector for marketing and commercial production. She stressed on not to underestimate any new idea, no matter how simple it is, and to try to develop it and invest in it.

After that, there was an open discussion between the audience and the lecturers, though which the concerns of the faculty members regarding the new intellectual property policy at JUST were identified, their questions were answered, and their suggestions were taken into consideration.