The Development Research Branch of EAPD participated in the 18^th Institute of European Studies of Macau (IEEM) Intellectual Property Seminar held in Macau SAR China from 5 to 6 November. Mariangela Parra-Lancourt presented the World Economic and Social Survey 2018: Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development which coincides with the seminar’s theme, “Intellectual Property and the 4th Industrial Revolution: A Data-driven Economy”. The developmental and balanced view of frontier technologies and the policy recommendations offered in the Survey were very well received. The Seminar included presentations from experts from the Universities of Alicante, Maastricht, Georgia State, Indiana and Sussex, the IEEM, the Institute of Technology and Society in Brazil and the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office on the disruptive nature of the 4th industrial revolution for intellectual property, data as the new currency of the 4th industrial revolution, (dis)trust and the data society, copyright, patents, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

The Survey was also presented at the Professional IP Update 2018 in Hong Kong SAR China on 7 November. The IP Update is a program organized jointly by the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department and the IEEM, with the purpose of bringing the latest developments in IP to practitioners in the region. Participants welcomed the call for a different approach to technology transfer to foster sustainable development in times of rapid technological advances.