President’s Message to LESI Global News
This article was published in the LESI Global News VOL 1 2025.
The Momentum is Building!
Dear LESI Members,
As we move into the fourth quarter of my presidency, I am excited to share the remarkable progress we have made together as a global community and highlight the path ahead. This year has been demonstrating the power of collaboration and living through our Vision and Mission. I want to celebrate the achievements we’ve accomplished so far while reinforcing the priorities that will drive us toward a successful conclusion of this term.
In alignment with our LESI Vision and Mission, we have made progress on the three priorities set for this society year: Raising Visibility Globally, Engaging and Activating Members and Stakeholders, and Driving a Diversified Funding Model.
1. Raising Visibility Globally Our efforts to enhance visibility are yielding tangible results. Through a multi-channel approach—including social media, on-line webinars, our renewed website, the Global News, les Nouvelles magazine, our visible conferences, strategic partnerships and even visible individual members —we have expanded our reach and strengthened our presence worldwide.
Many of our committees are using this approach and build value for our members by arranging online webinars and creating articles as follow-up. Our national societies are actively reporting their events in the global news and social media. Several individual members, including myself, are communicating about our events, causes and activities. Social media channels are being established by national societies who did not have them, and those who have, are more actively present. All these efforts demonstrate that we can communicate more and build value for our members. After all, everyone wants to be part of something people talk about.
LESI board and a few individuals active in the social media are making a “tips and tricks” guideline for social media presence to help our national and regional societies in building their on-line presence in social media. I expect this to be ready for use early next year. Another significant effort of communication and visibility during my term, is to create a special issue of LES Nouvelles on the field of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). This landmark must-read of the topic will be available in March and will be a printed handout in our Annual Conference in Singapore.
2. Engaging and Activating Members and Stakeholders This year, we have focused intensely on strengthening our engagement with industry professionals, members, and partners. Industry-specific invited meetings, such as those held at our Annual Meeting in Madrid, in LES Benelux and in LES China Annual Conferences, have received overwhelmingly positive feedback. One of key value items for our industry members is to be able to network and build relatioships to other industry leaders. We have worked hard to create a balanced and neutral non-profit platform for industry discussions and sharing. These initiatives are creating a more inclusive and industry-friendly LESI that benefits not only businesses but also academia, research institutions, and expert service providers.
A significant milestone in this effort was our industry delegation visit to Beijing, China, where we engaged with key authorities and attended the LES China Annual Meeting. We were able to bring together industry leaders from China and across the world for joint discussion. This initiative not only amplified LESI's visibility but also fostered valuable connections with LESI and industry leaders in the region.
Building on this success, we are now preparing for similar engagements in Latin America, particularly in Chile and Brazil. In collaboration with local patent offices and WIPO, these efforts will further expand our global network, enabling meaningful cross-border collaborations and positioning LESI and our members as a key players in the global IP ecosystem. This engagement is a concrete action continuing the collaboration under the work plan LESI made together with WIPO in October 2024. Finally, I expect our Singapore Annual Conference to role model the industry-friendliness through the diverse and top-notch program, practical workshops and industry visits.
Looking ahead, I encourage all members and national societies to leverage our global connections and opportunities and share your expertise and insights to help us further grow as a global community.
3. Driving a Diversified Funding Model We have made progress in securing partnerships that provide sustainable value beyond our annual conferences and membership fees. The continued success of the Thought Leadership Program for the third year in a row exemplifies this approach, offering high-quality, curated webinar and live content with our partners while generating income to support our goals. We are piloting new partnership opportunities that carry out collaboration for longer term than just one conference at a time. This will enable building more strategic relationships and offer value and insight for members and collaboration platform for our partners. These initiatives are essential for ensuring our resilience in an ever-changing landscape.
Looking Ahead to Singapore 2025 All of these efforts are building momentum for our much-anticipated Annual Conference in Singapore in April 2025. This event will be a celebration of what we have achieved and a great opportunity to set the course for the future success of LESI. It will also mark the conclusion of my term as president, and I am eager to see the culmination of our collective efforts come to life at this landmark event.
I warmly invite each of you to join us in Singapore and to contribute to the success of this important gathering. Your participation is vital to making this conference an inspiring and memorable experience for everyone involved.
Together, let’s continue to push boundaries, strengthen connections, and drive LESI forward as the global leader in intellectual asset management.
#LESisMore
At Your Service, Sonja London President of LESI 2024-2025
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