23 | 04 | 2018
Intellectual Property Day for Children and Youth Held in Rijeka, on 11 April 2018
The third event in a row titled Intellectual Property Day for Children and Youth was held in Rijeka at the Croatian Cultural Centre , on 11 April 2018 from 10 a.m. to 5 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 600 children and youngsters from primary and secondary schools in the City of Rijeka attended the event, accompanied by teachers and professors.
The play titled “Who Invented It” performed by the Tirena theatre was seen by 250 third to fourth graders from primary schools, Brajda, Eugen Kumičić, Gelsi, Gornja Vežica, Nikola Tesla, Pećine, Podmurvice and Vežice, 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 , the 6th and the 7th grade from primary schools, Brajda, Centar, Dolac, Gornja Vežica, Pećine, Srdoči, Trsta, Vežice and Zamet, 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 116 senior primary school graders, 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 and the manner of how to recognise forms of intellectual property – patents, trademarks and industrial design – in everyday life.
The programme intended for secondary school graders was attended by approximately 200 schoolchildren from secondary schools in Rijeka: the “Mijo Mirković” School of Economics, the First Sušak Comprehensive School in Rijeka, the Technical School for Mechanical Engineering and Shipbuilding, the School of Natural Sciences and Graphics, the Secondary Italian School in Rijeka – Scuola Media Superiore Italiana Fiume, the Civil Engineering School for Industry Crafts and the Mechanical Engineering School for Professions in Industry and Crafts. After the film by Milan Majerović Stilinović about young creatives and innovators, schoolchildren participated in the public discussion with successful creative women from Rijeka, Ines Prajo and Arijana Kunštek – composers and songwriters, Ana Cerovac – a young singer, and Andrea Anić Dokmanović (Andy's) – a fashion designer, who shared their 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 2018, which was promoted among schoolchildren by these activities as well.
We express our sincere thanks to the City of Rijeka for its support in conducting the manifestation, in letting us use the premises of the Croatian Cultural Centre on Sušak for this event and in assisting to us with organising visits by primary schoolchildren from Rijeka.
We express our sincere thanks to school masters as well, and to teachers and professors of the City of Rijeka who recognised this project and enabled their schoolchildren to take part in it; we hope for further cooperation in implementing forthcoming manifestations within the Intellectual Property Day for Children and Youth planned to be conducted further on.