So you have an idea. A great idea. A product or service that stands to change the way we organize our lives or connect with each other.

But, if you’re like most innovators, you face one particularly daunting task. Beyond the daily headaches of starting a new business, it’s deciding how to protect your innovation that concerns you. The complex world of IP law goes beyond patents and trademarks and it can be difficult to know what forms of IP are best for your product or service.

Here at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), we make policy recommendations to improve the lives of people around the world. This year, we’re taking on a new challenge: using our IP research to provide you – the innovators and entrepreneurs among us – with a resource to help you protect your innovation.

CIGI is proud to announce its beta test phase of ‘Foundations of IP Strategy’, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) created in collaboration with Kitchener-Waterloo-based D2L Corporation. This self-study course teaches you the basics, but also trains you to think like an IP strategist.

Understanding and developing an IP strategy is an essential requirement for all businesses seeking to compete and scale up in an increasingly competitive domestic and global market. By the end of this course, you will not only understand the different forms of IP, but you will be able to assess your own innovation and consider how you could layer IP rights for strategic advantage.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS BETA TESTING PROGRAM

By participating in this BETA phase, you will have first access to CIGI’s MOOC, ‘Foundations of IP’ and benefit from the expertise of course moderator and CIGI Senior Fellow Myra Tawfik. For the limited time of the BETA phase, Myra will be available to field questions as CIGI continues to improve this course.

For more information and to register, click here.

Application Deadline: September 12, 2016
Location: Online
Date: Program begins September 12, 2016