The Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) and the University of Udine have officially joined forces to offer training for intellectual property (IP) protection professionals in plant variety development. The partnership went into effect with the signing of an agreement by Francesco Mattina, CPVO president, and Roberto Pinton, the University of Udine rector, shared a release.
“The CPVO has always been committed to ensuring that the European system of plant variety rights favours scientific research in an effort to stimulate the creation of new and better plant varieties for the benefit of society and the environment. In this respect, the University of Udine is at the forefront for valorising such innovation in the field of new plant varieties through intellectual property rights,” commented Mattina.
The University of Udine holds an excellent reputation on its knowledge of new plant variety creation. It has 25 community plant variety rights (CPVRs) that have been granted by the CPVO — the greatest number of CPVRs granted to date for any Italian university.
“This agreement with the University of Udine is an excellent opportunity to showcase and strengthen the important link between university research on plant varieties, a field in which the University of Udine is a role model,” continued Mattina.
Since 1998, the university has established a total of 33 new plant varieties, including wheat, sunflower, kiwi and wine vine. In 2022, Mattina made a visit to the university, the Institute of Applied Genomics and the Rauscedo Cooperative Nurseries. During his visit, he was greatly impressed with the development and improvement of new varieties of vine that were resistant to diseases that were made possible with collaborations amongst public and private research.
“Plant variety rights are a strategic element of the intellectual property generated by university research on new plant varieties. A field in which our university has been committed for over 30 years in order to make agriculture more sustainable,” added Pinton. “Thanks to this agreement with the CPVO, we will have the opportunity to bind scientific research and experimentation even more closely to the positive economic impact on the territory and to the training of our graduates and of professionals in a growing sector, also at international level.”
The new agreement will allow the organization of training and research activities, including “masters, training courses, educational initiatives and learning paths for students and professionals,” explained the release. Experts from the CPVO will act as lecturers, giving University of Udine graduates the opportunity to carry out internships. Research projects focused on IP rights will also be conducted under the agreement.
