Kutaisi International University (KIU) hosted Victor Owade, Head of Academic Institutions and Executive Programs at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy, on a working visit together with Soso Giorgadze, Chairman of Sakpatenti. During a meeting with Vakhtang Tsagareli, Acting Rector of KIU and Director of the Kutaisi University Campus, the parties discussed the progress and future development strategies of their jointly implemented master's program, "Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship." The meeting was also attended by KIU Chancellor Levan Kopaliani and Pro-Rector Paata Turava.
As part of the visit, the first meeting of the Master's Program Development Committee was held, with representatives from KIU, Sakpatenti, and WIPO in attendance. During the meeting, committee members reviewed issues related to the academic process. This committee serves as the primary governing body responsible for the program's oversight and management.
Victor Owade and representatives from Sakpatenti toured Kutaisi International University's state-of-the-art campus, familiarizing themselves with the university's future infrastructural capabilities and the educational environment available for the program’s delivery. A meeting was also held with the master's program students, who were attending lectures as part of the curriculum. These lectures were delivered by international lecturers invited by WIPO - Prof. Dr. Dominique Foray and Associate Professor Gaétan de Rassenfosse from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL).
It is noteworthy that the master's program "Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship" was established on the basis of a tripartite memorandum signed in Geneva between WIPO, KIU, and Sakpatenti. This is an international master's program with no equivalent in the region, where instruction is provided by Georgian colleagues alongside highly qualified foreign professors selected by the WIPO Academy. Significantly, graduates of the master's program are awarded a Master of Business Administration degree with a specialization in Intellectual Property and Innovation Management.
