17 | 11 | 2017
Intellectual Property Day for Children and Youth Held in Varaždin, on 14 Nov 2017
The event titled Intellectual Property Day for Children and Youth was held in Varaždin at the Gaj Cinema and the premises of the City Hall, on 14 November from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. under the motto Be Creative•Be Innovative•Be a Giant/BUDI DIV.
Children and youngsters participated in an interactive education about intellectual property and its managing, which was conceived in cooperation between the State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia (SIPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office o (EUIPO), sponsored by the National Coordination for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.
More than 550 children and youngsters from primary and secondary schools in Varaždin and Varaždin County attended the event, accompanied by teachers and professors.
The play titled “Who Invented It” performed by the Tirena theatre was seen by 200 second to fourth graders from the I., II., IV., V. and VI. primary schools in Varaždin accompanied by their teachers. There were 99 primary schoolchildren who took part in interactive workshops held after the play, expressing their creativity and innovativeness through games and practical work thus gaining more detailed knowledge of the topics like copyright, patents and trademarks.
Within the programme for senior primary school grades titled “I Have an Idea”, school children of the 5th to 8th grade from the I., II., IV., and V. primary schools in Varaždin were conducted through short movies, sketches and interesting facts from the domain of intellectual property by the programme author, Lara Antić Prskalo. In the workshops to follow, attended by 80 senior primary school graders, the employees from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing demonstrated the function of robots to explain the role of software licenses in robotics to school children; the Customs employee used examples and samples of counterfeits seized by employees of the Customs of the Republic of Croatia to show the method of recognising counterfeits, whereas the SIPO employees taught the schoolchildren about copyright basics via online quizzes.
The programme intended for secondary school graders was attended by 200 schoolchildren from the Construction, Natural Sciences and Mining School, the Electric Mechanical Engineering School Varaždin, the Economy School Varaždin, the Second High School Varaždin, the Arboretum Opeka Marčan, the First High School Varaždin, the Secondary Vocational School Varaždin, the Music School Varaždin, the Secondary School Ivanec, the Secondary School Ludbreg, the Secondary School Novi Marof, the Medical School Varaždin and the Mechanical Engineering and Transport and Traffic School from Varaždin. After the film by Milan Majerović Stilinović about young creatives and innovators, schoolchildren participated in the public discussion with Martin Košćak, a young designer and entrepreneur from Varaždin, who shared his experience in generating a creative design and its commercialisation. Over 100 secondary schoolchildren participated in the workshops intended for distinguishing and adequate applying of various intellectual property rights, taught by the SIPO employees via online quizzes; they also learned about copyright basics and challenges with using copyright works available on the Internet, and the Customs employee used examples and samples of counterfeits seized by employees of the Customs of the Republic of Croatia to show the method of recognising counterfeits.
We hope to have succeeded in encouraging creative and innovative spirit with schoolchildren, to have explained the role and the potentials of intellectual property protection and the importance of respecting other people’s rights to them. We would also very much like for many of them to enter the competition for primary and secondary schoolchildren titled “Innovation for a Better Life” open until 30 November 2017, which was promoted among schoolchildren by yesterday’s activities as well.
We express our sincere thanks to the city of Varaždin for its support in conducting the manifestation, in letting us use the premises of the Gaj Cinema and the City Hall for this event, in assisting to us with organising visits by primary schoolchildren from Varaždin and in taking part in media coverage of the event. We also express our sincere thanks to the Varaždin County for its support in organising the event and for its assistance with organising the participation of secondary schoolchildren from the Varaždin County in this event.
We express our sincere thanks to school masters as well, and to teachers and professors of the city of Varaždin who recognised this project; we hope for further cooperation in implementing forthcoming manifestations within the Intellectual Property Day for Children and Youth planned to be conducted next year.