Patent Knowledge Forum 2024

Mario Cañadas Castro 
Mario Cañadas Castro is Head of the Documentation Service at the Technological Information Unit at OEPM in Madrid, with over 11 years of experience as a patent examiner specialised in mechanical fields. He coordinates and provides support for search and analysis tools used in prior art studies and offers training and strategic insights to examiners. 

Kieran Donnelly 
Kieran Donnelly is a Strategic Business Partner focused on enhancing online user engagement through the evolution of the European Patent Office's online services for external users. Since joining the EPO's Business Information Technology unit in 2014, he has leveraged his extensive experience in business consulting and IT management across both industry and government sectors to support the Office's digital transformation. 

Arne Krüger 
Arne Krüger started his career 25 years ago as a consultant and trainer for collaboration tools in multinational IT, banking and pharmaceutical companies. He is the founder and director of mtc.berlin (Moving Targets Consulting Berlin), an IT service provider with 50 developers, support specialists and consultants. Since 2016, he has been leading PIZnet eV, an association of the 19 German PATLIB centres and their hosting organisations. 

Andrée Lahaye 
Andrée Lahaye holds a degree in Bioengineering and a PhD in Molecular Biology. She worked at the science company Solvay as a researcher in genetic engineering and later as a patent information specialist. She joined the EPO's Directorate Cooperation in 2003 and the Directorate Patent Knowledge in 2012. She is Product Marketing Manager for Espacenet. 

Sofie Leplae 
Sofie Leplae is a Data Product Officer in the Data Services Team at the EPO. She graduated from the University of Leuven, Belgium, and lived and worked in Rome before joining the EPO in 2007. As a patent information data specialist, she focuses on bulk datasets and INPADOC legal event data. As a trainer, she addresses patent information topics, including INPADOC legal event data, patent families and the Unitary Patent. 

Carlos Aitor Pérez de Unzueta 
Carlos Aitor Pérez de Unzueta is Head of the Data Services Department at the EPO, where he leads the dissemination of patent data through datasets and patent information services. He has a master's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao. After working as a functional architect of electric and hybrid vehicles for BMW from 2011 to 2015, Carlos joined the EPO as a patent examiner in 2015. Between 2021 and 2023, he worked as a patent data expert before taking up his current position in 2024. 

Borja Rojano Broz 
Borja Rojano Broz is a Product Manager for data services at the European Patent Office. With a master's degree in Industrial Engineering and six years experience in the private sector, Borja joined the EPO in 2009 as an examiner. Working with the digital transformation of the EPO, Borja was the Project Manager of MyEPO Portfolio in the Strategic Plan 2023. 

Yolanda Sánchez García 
Yolanda Sánchez García joined the EPO in Vienna in 2002. She is responsible for promoting the European Patent Register - including the Register for Unitary Patent protection - providing training and conducting market research. She is also actively involved in planning and developing new register services and features, including the Federated Register, Register Alert and the Unitary Patent Register, guided by the results of user consultations.  
Yolanda holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry (Universidad de Barcelona and Molecular Research Institute, Palo Alto, California), a post-doctoral degree (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich) and a post-graduate degree in Marketing. 

Public launch of the new Technology Intelligence Platform TIP 
Carlos Aitor Pérez de Unzueta, European Patent Office 

The Technology Intelligence Platform (TIP) is the EPO's next-generation tool for processing, analysing and visualising patent data. It aims to boost more democratised access to data by empowering researchers, businesses, innovators and everyday users to run advanced patent data analysis and gain insights to support business-informed decisions in the pursuit of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. 

Knowledge Innovation Hub Masterclass, Part 1: Live demonstration of TIP by the EPO 
Borja Rojano, Data services, European Patent Office 

In this demonstration, we will see the Technology Intelligence Platform in action, getting familiar with the interface and the basic concepts behind python notebooks and seeing advanced data visualisation and interactive dashboards. 

TIP testimonials from external users
Arne Krüger, MTC Berlin 

Mapping applicants and technologies in Germany: A guide for PATLIBs with TIP and GPT-4o co-intelligence. The presentation will show how to use the new Technology Intelligence Platform (TIP) as a patent information professional without the need for developer or data scientist skills. It will also present a guided workflow and how TIP and Generative AI simplify patent analysis with PATSTAT. The result is a visualised landscape: a dynamic map of granted applications over the last decade, enriched with technology fields across German states and districts.

Mario Cañadas Castro, Spanish Patent and Trademark Office 

In this example, we replicate in the Technology Intelligence Platform (TIP) part of the PATSTAT studies completed at OEPM-ES for reports on patents and climate change mitigation. Aiming to explore the possibilities offered by TIP, we include a gender gap study that shows gender distribution among the inventors. It was accomplished by obtaining and crossing data from PATSTAT with a gender dictionary prepared at WIPO and contributions from OEPM. Finally, we also apply specific Python libraries to show a map with the geographical distribution of applicants and inventors. 

The new Legal Interactive Platform 
Kieran Donnelly, European Patent Office 

As you interact with the EPO on patent applications, there will be times when you are unsure about details of patent law and procedures.   

The Legal Interactive Platform of MyEPO leverages the latest generative artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to provide you with information about patent law and procedures as you work with us online.   

In this session, we will provide a practical demonstration of this pilot EPO user service. You will learn about its coverage, usage and limitations, together with best practices for getting the most out of this powerful new tool. 

The Unitary Patent in the European Patent Register 
Yolanda Sánchez García, European Patent Office 

After the Unitary Patent (UP) came into force on 1 June 2023, data relating to unitary effect has been available in the Unitary Patent Register, providing users with an additional layer of patent information. 

During this session, Yolanda will focus on some of the latest Register developments that increase the availability of new data related to the Unitary Patent. She will also present information on the second generation of Unitary Patents featured in various sections of the Register. 

Unlocking the power of Espacenet 
Andrée Lahaye, European Patent Office 

In this presentation, we will cover Espacenet's powerful search aspects, designed to streamline the exploration of extensive patent data. Additionally, it will highlight the user-friendly interface features that improve text readability and offer customisable viewing options, alongside an efficient tool for patent categorisation, all contributing to a more adaptable and effective user experience. 

Trends in our high-quality data collections 
Sofie Leplae, European Patent Office 

In 2023, our prior art databases grew by 7 million patent publications, reaching a total of 153 million. In the same year, INPADOC legal event data expanded to 440 million legal events. In this presentation, we will explore how the EPO ensures the consistency, completeness and quality of its data collections through continuous improvements to both data quality at source and the processes in place. This data serves as the foundation for products and services like Espacenet/Open Patent Services, the Global Patent Index, PATSTAT, bulk datasets and the new Technology Intelligence Platform (TIP).