On 21 November, the signing ceremony for the cooperation agreement between the Beijing Intellectual Property Office and Tsinghua University, and the "High-Level Seminar on the Training of Foreign-Related Intellectual Property Talents" was successfully held at the School of Law of Tsinghua University. The conference brought together experts and scholars from government authorities, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), leading universities at home and abroad, well-known enterprises, and legal service institutions.
Landy Jiang, Managing Partner, Global Co-Deputy Head of Dispute Resolution of Lusheng Law Firm, was invited to speak at the seminar, where she joined a number of leading industry experts in exploring the internationalization and upgrading pathways for the training of intellectual property talents.
High-Level Seminar on the Training of Foreign-Related Intellectual Property Talents
Following the signing ceremony, the seminar opened with a speech by Hong Yan, Secretary-General of the Intellectual Property Law Research Center of the School of Law of Tsinghua University. Chen Wei, Second-Level Inspector of the Beijing Intellectual Property Office, Xue Song, Deputy Division Director of the Personnel Division of the Department of Human Resources of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, and Bai Guangqing, Senior Advisor of the China Office of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), respectively delivered remarks on topics such as the current situation and needs in the training of foreign-related intellectual property talents and WIPO’s global intellectual property talent training system.
In the subsequent exchange session, guests from relevant authorities, well-known universities at home and abroad, enterprises, and legal service institutions engaged in discussions on issues including the demand for talent training, curriculum and faculty development in universities, and the construction of a collaborative development ecosystem.
Focusing on issues related to the joint construction of an education ecosystem, Landy Jiang, drawing on the perspective of a frontline intellectual property service institution and the talent challenges and cooperation opportunities encountered in practice, shared insights on the following aspects to help build a virtuous closed-loop ecosystem for talent training:
1. Bridging the Gap Between Learning and Practice: Building a Bridge from Classroom to Real-World Practice
Attorney Jiang pointed out that there is often a gap between theoretical knowledge and practical operation. To help students shorten this transition period, she suggested that, while ensuring solid theoretical study, students should be provided with opportunities for case-based learning and participation in practical projects so as to develop their hands-on skills and problem-solving abilities.
At the same time, from the perspective of service institutions, she expressed the desire to cooperate with universities through joint curriculum development and the establishment of internship bases, enabling students to become familiar in advance with foreign-related intellectual property practice, cultivate practical skills and an international mindset, and shorten the period of adaptation to employment.
2. Expanding International Horizons and Cultivating Interdisciplinary Talents
In her remarks, she noted that intellectual property is a highly internationalized field of law. National intellectual property systems develop through mutual learning, exhibiting both convergence and divergence. Therefore, comparative law research is of critical importance; it is necessary to understand similarities and differences from the cases and rules of various jurisdictions, build bridges, and resolve practical issues. She expressed the hope that more practical cases from different countries could be provided in the future to serve as references for the training of foreign-related intellectual property talents.
3. Promoting the Integration of Intellectual Property with Other Industries
Attorney Jiang further noted that intellectual property is not only a right in the legal sense, but in essence also a form of technology and intellectual assets, which ultimately must serve business and empower business development. She further pointed out that the emergence of new technologies such as AI is constantly breaking down boundaries between fields, and that future intellectual property talents will need greater cross-disciplinary integration, combining legal knowledge, industry insight, and technological understanding. To this end, she suggested leveraging universities’ advantages in comprehensive disciplines and jointly establishing “IP Talent Training Laboratories” with enterprises and service institutions. Through project-based internships, the adaptation period for talents can be shortened, and pilot programs can be carried out in IP-intensive fields to promote deep integration of cross-disciplinary capabilities.
4. Attaching Importance to the Cultivation of Soft Skills
In addition, Attorney Jiang emphasized that, in the training of intellectual property talents, in addition to professional competence, attention must also be paid to shaping intrinsic qualities such as resilience, curiosity, thirst for knowledge, and initiative, as well as developing their cross-cultural communication, problem-solving, and integrative thinking abilities. These soft skills are equally crucial.
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Signing Ceremony for the Cooperation Agreement between the Beijing Intellectual Property Office and Tsinghua University and High-Level Seminar on the Training of Foreign-Related Intellectual Property Talents Successfully Held (Source: Tsinghua Intellectual Property)
