Let’s Teach Intellectual Property!

The IT educational initiative has already been implemented into schools with key stage 1 children learning about coding and algorithms. On 10 February 2016 ministers announced a new educational initiative to promote “vital” IP education to GCSE / key stage 4 students.

The UK Intellectual Property Office and Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG have produced lesson plans for teachers labeled ‘Think Kit‘ which are designed to enable both students and teachers to understand what Intellectual Property (IP) is, how to get the most from your ideas and how innovation plays a vital part in our economy.

The UK Intellectual Property Office also has other resources from key stage 1 upwards and it is exciting to see that children will be learning about innovation from an early age.

As IP has and is being recognised by government ministers as vital to our economy, it seems to makes sense to introduce this concept at school level.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister for Intellectual Property said:

“It’s important for tech-savvy young people to learn about the principles of intellectual property. The UK creative sector is worth over £76 billion, which makes education even more important.

Providing access to relevant, curriculum linked education resources is a huge step towards creating an IP literate generation to help us secure the UK’s continued global competitiveness.”

For more information on Intellectual Property generally please contact Emily Timmins, Partner.