Baroness Neville-Rolfe leads the first ever ministerial delegation to China focussed on IP. She is accompanied by a number of the UK’s leading knowledge-based companies and representatives from IP-intensive industries.

The visit began with the 2nd UK-China IP Symposium in Beijing, hosted in partnership with Chinese State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). The Symposium brought together more than 150 representatives from UK and Chinese firms and government to address key IP issues of concern to both countries.

The Symposium provided a platform for detailed exchanges between the UK and Chinese IP agencies on intellectual property policy, as well as offering businesses an opportunity to build stronger relationships with their international counterparts. The participants discussed a number of topics on key aspects of Intellectual Property, including enforcement, trademarks, patents and designs.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe said:

“The UK-China Symposium – and the planned week of UK-China IP activities taking place across the country – provides an excellent platform on which to build on the recent progress between the UK and China on improving IP relations. It is also an important part of UK-China cooperation to construct a global IP system that promotes trade, investment and innovation.

“It provides an opportunity for not only high level discussion but working level contact too, which will pay dividends for UK and Chinese companies entering either market. ”