​​PATLIB2024​

Ángel Aledo López

Ángel Aledo López  joined the EPO in January 2019 and was appointed Chief Technology Officer in March 2019. He has held different technical and managerial positions and contributed to the digital transformation of several organisations. Ángel has assisted with academic research and the development of tools for managing IP rights and corporate websites and has advised widely on the use of state-of-the-art technology to improve business processes.

Thomas Bereuter

Thomas Bereuter is an administrator in the Innovation Networks department at the EPO's Patent Academy. He is a certified licensing professional with more than 25 years' experience in international commercialisation of early-stage technologies. He has managed international licensing and technology divestment deals and founded and supported high-tech startups and spin-offs as CEO, advisor and coach. Thomas taught at several universities before joining the EPO in 2013.

Philippe Borne

Philippe Borne is the head of the PATLIB Centre in Strasbourg. As a pharmaceutical physician, he joined the INPI in 1986 to participate in the design of the Pharmsearch patent database and in 2008, he joined the regional branch department of the INPI. In June 2021, he joined the group of experts of the EPO PATLIB network. Philippe is also a CFIB board member, and he has recently started focusing on the geostrategic aspects of IP.

Tobias Braunsberger

Tobias Braunsberger has been the Managing Director at EZN Erfinderzentrum Norddeutschland (PATLIB Hannover) since 2019. He focuses on the evaluation of inventions, patent searches, patent application support, patent strategy, funding, preparing technology offers, trade fair presentations, licence negotiations, the sale of patents and contacts abroad. He obtained his PhD in electrical engineering at Braunschweig Technische Universität in 2002.

Camille-Rémy Bogliolo

started his career at INPI-France in 1999 and joined WIPO in 2001 to work on reforming the PCT system. He joined the EPO in 2006 and is currently head of the Unitary Patent Protection Division.

Pere Arque Castells

Pere Arque Castells works at the European Patent Office as Stream Leader at the Observatory on Patents and Technology. He worked as a researcher at the University of Barcelona from 2008 to 2014. From 2014 to 2019 he was a research associate at Northwestern University's Center on Law, Business and Economics. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from the University of Barcelona, where he obtained a PhD in economics in 2010.

Serhat Dalkiliç

Serhat Dalkiliç is a technology transfer specialist, registered technology transfer professional and General Manager of Erciyes Teknopark and Erciyes TTO. He has worked on Intellectual Rights within TTO and carried out studies on IP commercialisation by proposing different commercialisation models. He is working on his PhD in civil engineering and is currently the Turkish Ambassador of the European IP Helpdesk.

Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies is a UK seconded national expert at the EPO and works on multilateral cooperation, which includes IP5 initiatives, trilateral cooperation, and UK user associations. At the UK IPO, he has led European trade and engagement with EU member states, EUIPO and EU-UK trade cooperation. He also focuses on domestic business support policy, managing business and IP centres, and overseeing PATLIB networks.

Atif Emre Demet

Atif Emre Demet is head of the PATLIB centre office in Konya, which he joined in 2022. He gained research experience in scientific institutions in Europe before joining the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office in 2020. Atif Emre is a Turkish patent attorney with expertise in IP and technology commercialisation. He has an MSc in energy storage and conversion and a PhD in engineering and chemistry of materials and sustainable industrial chemistry.

Professor Muhammed Zeki Durak

Professor Muhammed Zeki Durak was appointed President of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office in October 2023. Previously. Previously, he was Secretary General of the BEBKA Regional Development Agency, where he supervised regional development strategies, project funding and launched a call for seed capital funds in this region. He holds a master's degree and PhD from Cornell University and several patents in food preservation.

Masaki Ema

Masaki Ema is a deputy director of the International Policy Division at the Japan Patent Office. He is responsible for Trilateral and IP5 co-operation activities as well as bilateral co-operation with North American and European countries. He is also a patent examiner in the field of chemical compounds and polymers and has been working for the Japanese Patent Office since 2007.

Arzu Firlarer

Arzu Firlarer is currently the co-ordinator of the European Union-funded “OHS Training and Biomonitoring Project for Farmers' Pesticide Use”. She studied entrepreneurship and commercialisation, biophysics, and occupational health and safety to a master’s and PhD level. Arzu has also developed and managed projects in many different fields (science, technology, SMEs, etc.) and published over twenty papers in national/international indexed journals.

Alejandro Flores

Alejandro Flores is Managing Co-ordinator of Principal Directorate Patent Intelligence. He joined the EPO in 1999 as a patent examiner in the field of traffic control. In 2008, he passed the European qualifying examination and from 2010-2023, he headed the e-learning department of the European Patent Academy. He has a PhD in telecommunications engineering from UPS, an MSc in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley and an MA in law from UNED.

Costanza Galbardi

Costanza Galbardi has worked as an IP analyst at the AREA Science Park in Trieste since 2010. She also has previous experience as a documentalist at the Pordenone Technological Pole in Italy.

Udo Gennari

Udo Gennari is a senior expert in intellectual property rights with 18 years' experience at PATLIB centres. He conducts FTO and patent novelty searches, patent valuation and licensing support and provides IPR advice, counselling and training. He is a European IP Helpdesk Ambassador and a member of the Licensing Executives Society. He has experience in chemical engineering and metallurgy at VAI and materials development at PLANSEE.

Jon Freire Gomez

Jon Freire Gomez holds a degree in advanced mechanical engineering from the University of the Basque Country, an MSc in thermal power from Cranfield University and a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Bristol. In 2016, he joined the European Patent Office, where he works as a patent examiner.

Evren Homan Gökçe

Evren Homan Gökçe is a founding partner of Dermis Pharma Health and Cosmetic Products Inc. in Izmir, Türkiye, which develops dermal or topical drug dosage forms, as well as medical devices and cosmetics. Evren has a PhD from the Ege University Faculty of Pharmacy, where she currently works as a professor. She is a winner of the Novartis Pharmaceutical Technology Project Support Award and holds three patents.

Nyeemah Grazier

Nyeemah Grazier is an attorney at the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where she manages a diverse portfolio of international and domestic patent law matters. Previously Nyeemah was an associate research scientist at Bristol-Myers Squibb and has won the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award, the USPTO Exceptional Career Award and the USPTO Director’s Award.

Paramjit Hans

Paramjit Hans is a qualified business and intellectual property advisor based at the PATLIB Centre in the Library of Birmingham. The centre specialises in providing information and guidance on how to start or develop a business.

Idil Buse Kök Hazer

Idil Buse Kök Hazer is an attorney at law, registered technology transfer professional, chartered patent attorney and Director of the Middle East Technical University Technology Transfer Office. She is an IP Ambassador of the European IP Helpdesk, a member of the PATLIB Advisory Committee and a board member of the Licensing Executives Society, Türkiye. Her expertise spans technology transfer, IP commercialisation and patent valuation.

David Horat

David Horat is Director of Patent Knowledge and ad interim Director of Certifications and Official Publications at the EPO. He worked as a patent examiner and created the first AI pre-search algorithm before moving into prior art data management. He was IT Director at the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands and a software engineer at CERN and Ericsson. David has an MSc in computer science and an LLM in IP and business management.

Jens Hoheisel

Jens Hoheisel is Managing Director of InnoWi, a patent marketing agency and patent information centre in Bremen, Germany. He is a registered technology transfer professional of the Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals and has years of experience in the commercialisation, protection and search of intellectual property. He holds a PhD in production technology from the University of Bremen and is a member of the PATLIB advisory committee.

Bowman Heiden

Bowman Heiden is Director of the Center for Intellectual Property at the University of Gothenburg. He is Executive Director of the Tusher Strategic Initiative for Technology Leadership at UC Berkeley and Co-chair of the Technology, Innovation, and Intellectual Property programme in the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU School of Law. Before focusing on strategy and policy, Dr. Heiden played professional basketball in several European countries.

Başak Kaftan

Başak Kaftan is a registered technology transfer professional and co-ordinator of intellectual property rights at Yaşar University. She is working on her 'Environmentally Sensitive Knowledge and Technology Transfer' project with technology transfer professional employment support funded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye. Her PhD studies focus on the agricultural sector’s acceptance of green technology and innovation.

Rainer Kaysan

is head of Innovation Networks. He joined the EPO in 2006 as a patent examiner and performed tasks such as prior art searches and chairing opposition proceedings. Department Innovation Networks promotes business and technology commercialisation, the network of innovation support centres (PATLIBs), the High Growth Technology Business initiative and future knowledge transfer initiatives. Rainer holds master degrees in aerospace engineering and business economics.

Susanna Kernthaler

Susanna Kernthaler has a law degree from the University of Vienna. Her professional background is in international trademark law. She joined the EPO in 2019, working in the PATLIB team. She is mainly responsible for the annual PATLIB conference, organiser of regular “Shaping the Future together” meetings with the network and the main contact person for the PATLIB advisory committee. As of April 2023, she is part of the Innovation Networks unit of the Academy.

Arne Krüger

started his professional 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, an IT service provider with fifty 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.

Sofie Leplae

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

Sonja London

Sonja London is the General Counsel and Licensing Executive at TactoTek. She previously spent 14 years at Nokia, where she led consumer electronics licensing. Sonja has expertise in technology licensing, patent transactions, and managing licensing businesses. She serves as Treasurer and Board Member of Licensing Executives Society International. Sonja has a master of law and executive MBA, and is named by IAM Strategy 300 as a top IP Strategist.

Enrico Luzzatto

Enrico Luzzatto studied chemistry at the university “La Sapienza” in Rome, before joining EPO in 1989. In 1998 he passed the European Qualifying Examination. He became operational director in 2010 and was active in the training of EPO examiners as well as given several lectures on patenting and procedural matters. In 2018 Enrico joined the European Patent Academy as Senior Advisor, and in 2020 in the same role at the directorate Patent Knowledge Promotion. As of April 2023, he is part of the Innovation Networks unit of the Academy.

Laura MacDonald

Laura MacDonald is Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Knowledge Transfer Professionals. Based in Leiden since 2016, she works with the volunteer board to develop and implement strategies to advance the association's objectives. A law graduate from the University of Glasgow, Laura became head of licensing at the University of Edinburgh from 2001 to 2006 before working at Leiden University Medical Centre and Leiden University until 2016.

Céline Mathevet

Céline Mathevet is deputy-head of a regional office at the French national patent office, INPI. She helps SMEs to use IP tools and shares best practices to support their development. A former patent examiner with over 15 years of experience in promoting IP within the network of organisations supporting innovation in different areas in France, Céline is also the contact officer for INPI’s patent landscaping service.

Lisa McDonald-Maier

Lisa McDonald-Maier joined the European Patent Office in 1992. Over the years she has been heavily involved with the PATLIB network, has acted as application manager and user representative for Espacenet. Lisa managed the unit for user support for patent information tools and products from 2013-2023. She was responsible training and for continued development in the PATLIB 2.0 project and now leads the KT2Africa initiative since November 2022.

Ömer Ertuğrul Meral

Ömer Ertuğrul Meral is Director of the Patent and Licensing unit at the Yıldız Technology Transfer Office. He is involved in the Operation Co-ordination Unit of the 'A Smart Network for Technology Transfer and Commercialisation with Funnel Model' project funded by the European Union under IPA-II. Ömer is currently pursuing his PhD studies in management and organization in the Department of Business Administration at Yıldız Technical University.

Chinedum Mgbemena

Chinedum Mgbemena is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Centre for Research Innovation at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria. He is the focal officer of the Knowledge Transfer to Africa programme and was appointed ad personam to the SACEPO Working Party on Quality. He was also previously a visiting fellow at the Enhanced Composites and Structures Centre at Cranfield University, UK.

Zalerapi Chirwa Mhango

Zalerapi Chirwa Mhango is a technology transfer officer at Malawi University of Science and Technology, where he lectures in technology commercialisation, computer science and information systems, and manages the technology transfer office and patent services. He has a MSc in Informatics and a Bachelor's in education technology. His involvement in the National Schools Science Fair has led to sponsorships for patenting 23 projects by Press Trust.

Dr Mpumelelo Nkomo

Dr Mpumelelo Nkomo is a registered South African patent attorney with extensive experience in IP management. He is an IP specialist working with legal services at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, previously the technology transfer manager at Walter Sisulu University's TTO. There, he managed WSU's IP portfolio and provided strategic direction. He has worked at one of South Africa's top five IP law firms and previously conducted medicinal plant research as an academic.

Kadri Yavuz Özbay

Kadri Yavuz Özbay is the co-ordinator of the Industrial Property Training Center at TURKPATENT. Over the past 20 years he has co-ordinated negotiations with the European Commission and led bilateral co-operation programmes with the EPO, EUIPO, WIPO and national IP offices. He also established the IP Academy and the LLM programme on IPR at Ankara University with WIPO and drafted Türkiye's National IPR Strategy Papers.

Justyna Pawłowska PhD

Justyna Pawłowska PhD, is a European patent attorney and representative before the UPC and EUIPO. For more than 10 years, she has been a patent attorney at Gdansk University of Technology and was head of the patent attorneys' team and PATLIB Centre that cooperated with TTOs. She is an IP academic teacher experienced in international, European and national patent procedures, patent analyses, IP agreements, IP valuation and audits.

Carlos Aitor Pérez de Unzueta

Carlos Aitor Pérez de Unzueta heads the Data Services Department at the EPO. He has a master's degree in industrial engineering from the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao. After working as a functional architect for BMW and Promethos GmbH 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.

Tina Dahlerup Poulsen

Tina Dahlerup Poulsen is Principial Adviser at the Danish Patent and Trademark Office. She is currently working in the International Projects Department. Tina is also DKPTO's PATLIB contact person and is responsible for any contact between DKPTO and the Danish Tech Trans Offices. She has been working at the DKPTO for nine years accomplishing various functions. Tina holds a PhD in chemistry from Aarhus University, Denmark.

Riccardo Priore

Riccardo Priore is an intellectual property consultant at the PATLIB office hosted by AREA Science Park, a national public research organisation in Trieste. He has QPIP certification and graduated with a PhD in molecular biology from the International Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. He spent five years as a postdoc at NYU and the University of Trieste. Riccardo is interested in AI-based data science and patent intelligence.

Xavier Seuba

Xavier Seuba, Principal Director, Patent Intelligence, EPO. Before joining the EPO, Xavier held positions as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and as Academic Coordinator and Scientific Head at the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies. He has worked as a consultant for several international organisations and governments and as an arbiter in patent-related disputes.

Johannes Schaaf

Johannes Schaaf joined the European Patent Office in Vienna in 2005 and works in Directorate Patent Knowledge, where he is involved with PATSTAT, patent insight reports and technology platforms. He previously worked as an engineer and innovation consultant at Siemens and as an examiner in the area of laser technology at the German Patent and Trademark Office. He holds an MBA and a master's degree in physics.

Juhani Talvela

Juhani Talvela is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years' experience managing SMEs. He conducts research at LUT University on small companies' and private inventors' ability to use the global patent system efficiently. Juhani is Chairman of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions, which is launching a novel support system for early-stage inventors and innovators. He is the CEO of Intellisys Oy and promotes the PATLIB network services in Finland.

Sofia Vairinho

Sofia Vairinho has a PhD in Law and a Master's in Business Law. She is a guest faculty member at the University of Algarve and head of the Unit for Industrial Property Promotion (an EPO PATLIB Centre) within the Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer. Sofia has extensive experience in the field of protection and knowledge valorisation and was the Manager for Business Development and Licensing at Carnegie Mellon University.

Sander de Vrieze

Sander de Vrieze has 14 years of experience at the PATLIB centre Centexbel answering questions from Belgian SMEs regarding intellectual property rights. He has a master's degree in science and engineering and a PhD in materials science and engineering. In 2023, Sander was a Patent Olympiad bronze medal winner.

Tom Withnell

Tom Withnell joined the EPO in August 2021, bringing with him experience and focus on technology transfer and SME-related matters. Prior to joining the EPO, Tom led a university Technology Transfer team which gave him substantial experience in project management. His background is in electrical power engineering and superconductivity, and he has achieved RTTP (Registered Technology Transfer Professional) status.

Raquel Xalabarder

Raquel Xalabarder is Director of the European Patent Academy. She has an LLM from Columbia University Law School and a PhD in Law from the University of Barcelona. Before joining the EPO, Raquel was Dean of the School of Law and Political Science at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. She has taught and written in the fields of copyright and intellectual property, private international law and internet law, and was a tutor at the WIPO Academy.

Elena Zanatta

Elena Zanatta holds a degree in labour psychology and works at t2i scarl. She joined the PATLIB centre in 2016, where she works to raise awareness in the fields of trademarks, patenting, design and copyright. She has managed internships of industrial design degree students for over ten years and engages with SMEs, design and graphic studios and other creative professionals to increase their IP knowledge and help students to protect their ideas.