Regional Seminar
on Enhancing the Quality of IP Management in SMEs

Habip Asan has been President of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office since October 2008.

Dr. Asan has been a member of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization (EPO) since 2008. He served as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the European Patent Academy from 2011 to 2012 and as the Member of Board of the Administrative Council of the EPO between 2013- 2016. He has been serving as the Chairman of the Technical and Operational Support Committee of the EPO since December 2016.

Dr. Asan earned his B.S. in Mechanical engineering from Karadeniz Technical University in 1985. After receiving his MSc and PhD degrees from Texas Tech University in USA between 1988-1993, he worked as a professor with both academic research/teaching and administrative tasks including Deputy Dean of Graduate School, Deputy Chair of Mechanical Engineering, Director of Research Center at Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey.

Mr. Daren Tang, a national of Singapore, began his six-year mandate as Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on October 1, 2020. Prior to his appointment as WIPO Director General, he served as Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), driving the strategic transformation of IPOS in support of Singapore’s innovation-based economy.

Between 1997 and 2012, before joining IPOS, Daren Tang held different legal positions within the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore. In 2016, he received the Public Administration Medal from the Prime Minister's Office Singapore for outstanding efficiency and competence in the service of his country.

Daren Tang is a graduate of the National University of Singapore (Bachelor of Law, Honors) and the Georgetown University Law Center (Master of Laws, Distinction). He also attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He is fluent in English and Chinese.

Mr. Mustafa Varank received his undergraduate degree from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Middle East Technical University. He holds a master's degree from the Department of Computer Science at Indiana University in the USA.

In 2005, he started working at the Prime Ministry. He was appointed as Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister in 2011 and as Senior Advisor to the President in 2014. In 2016, he received the title of Ambassador.

During his tenure as Senior Advisor, Mr. Varank, alongside the duties given him by the President, also took special interest in high technology, computer technology and applications, defense industry, and research and development activities. He has been serving as The Minister of Industry and Technology since July 10, 2018.

Mr. Guy Pessach is the Director, IP for Business Division (IPBD), IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector (IES), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Prior to joining WIPO, Guy was a Law Professor at the Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in Intellectual Property, Law & Technology and the Creative Industries. Guy was a Fulbright Scholar, Residential Fellow at the Information Society Project, Yale Law School; a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School, City University Hong Kong, UBC and the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, Georgetown University Law School and also an Erasmus Mundus, Visiting Scholar at the Center for Law, Society and Pop Culture, University of Westminster.

Prior to his academic career, Guy clerked for Justice Zamir at the Israeli Supreme Court and has worked at the Economic Department of the Israeli State Attorney's Office; The Israeli Antitrust Authority; the Bank of Israel and as a private legal counsel, in the area of Intellectual Property, including ongoing counselling to technology transfer offices, startups & technology companies.

Mr.Ali Ahmed brings 20 years of experience in global asset management, private equity and cross-border deal structuring. He actively advises boards of leading institutions and governments on economic policy, intellectual property initiatives, financial markets and sustainable development, among others.

Mr. Ali is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Singapore-based Makara Capital and serves on the Board of Directors of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). Mr.Ali previously served as Vice President of Morgan Stanley in Singapore, where he helped build the company’s Asian and Middle East asset management business. Prior to this, Ali worked with the World Bank in Washington DC as a Senior Consultant in the private sector finance group, advising the governments of developing economies on financial sector reforms including efficient capital market structures and public-private partnerships. Earlier, Ali managed a technology and innovation team at Goldman Sachs & Co, in which he was responsible for strategically leveraging technology to enhance trading.

Mr. Ali Ahmad holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government), a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Physics from Bowdoin College and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.

Audrey Yap is the Managing Partner of regional law firm Yusarn Audrey and also a Registered Patent Agent in Singapore. Yusarn Audrey is a boutique intellectual property and commercial law practice offering legal and intellectual capital management as part of an integrated suite of IP solutions. Audrey has facilitated the development of robust patent and IP portfolios for growth and monetisation.

Audrey has served as Member of the Board of Directors of the IP Office of Singapore since 2015 and as an Adjunct Fellow of the IP Academy of Singapore since 2004.

Audrey has served as a Board member of Enterprise Singapore, an agency under the Ministry of Trade & Industry from 2018 - 2020. Audrey continues to serve as IP Expert for several international and regional WIPO projects.

Audrey has been listed as one of the World’s Leading IP Strategists since 2009 to date for 12 years running consecutively by the London based IAM publication. Audrey has won several accolades over the years including being named as one of Singapore’s leading lawyers in Who’s Who Legal by Euromoney as one of the top Women Business lawyers in Singapore.

She is President of LES International, chairman of the Singapore Business Federation SMEC Innovation Sub-committee, a Notary Public and a Board Director of a Singapore listed company.

Richard Nugent began work in the financial services sector in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and after his law degree in the late 1990s he began work as in-house counsel, negotiating the contracts with sub-contractors involved in the building of Belfast City Airport. He later worked in the legal teams of Canon, Orange, and SAS Software.

In 2007 Richard moved to Rothamsted Research, working as an IP Manager and a Legal Contracts Manager. After leaving Rothamsted in 2015 he worked within his own consulting firm, Totalinfo Ltd. and subsequently as a Contracts Manager within the Research & Enterprise team at Queen’s University Belfast. Since joining Coller IP in 2018 Richard’s work has included IP strategy projects, intangible asset audits, competitive intelligence, IP management, licensing activity and IP training, IP policy as well as contracts consulting. In 2020, as well as co-leading the PraxisAuril Research Contracts course, he was a contributor to the bestselling “Growing with Blockchain” book, writing the chapter on Blockchain and IP.

Richard speaks and trains regularly about both IP and Contracts in the U.K., China, Brazil, Germany, Singapore and South Africa. Richard speaks French and Brazilian Portuguese.

Richard holds a BA from Ulster University, a MSSc in European Integration, a LLB in Law, both from Queen’s University Belfast.

Samir Deliormanli is the manager responsible for Innovation and Intellectual Property at Koc Holding A.S., which is the parent company of the largest and most successful conglomerate in Turkey. Mr. Deliormanli is responsible for building innovation management models, corporate entrepreneurship programs, IP management and licensing models for Koc Group companies operating in various industries such as the energy, finance, automotive, consumer durables and defense industries. Mr. Deliormanli is also responsible for analyzing and advising Koc Group companies on strategy options from innovation and IP perspectives. He also acts as Secretary General for the Koc Technology and Innovation Committee.

Mr. Deliormanli is a member of the Inventram Investment Committee; Inventram being a business incubation and seed fund company under Koc Holding and Koc University’s partnership.

Mr. Deliormanli is one of the very few Turkish licensing professionals to have met the Certified Licensing Professional requirements and to hold the CLP title. Mr. Deliormanli is also a Patent and Trademark Attorney. He graduated from Yildiz Technical University, Electronics and Communications Engineering Department and holds a master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Istanbul Technical University. He is also listed in the “World’s Leading IP Strategists”, IAM 300, list in 2015 where he is the only operating company representative from Turkey.

Dr Yildirim is a European Patent Attorney who is also specialized in IP management and business intelligence.

He obtained his PhD in medical sciences at Karolinska Institutet in 2005 with specializations in analytical chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry applied in vaccine research.

The turn of his career path towards working as a patent professional took place in 2007 when he became patent examiner at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office. He started working as a patent attorney in 2012 and was employed at the top 3 IP-consultancy companies in Sweden up until 2018 when he decided to switch to the client side and took up work as patent attorney at Tobii which has a large portfolio in the field of eye-tracking.

Since January 2020, Dr Yildirim has been working as the Head of IP at Xbrane and has (i) devised the IP policy, (ii) harvested IP, (iii) drafted and filed patent applications, and (iv) conducted FTO & infringement assessments.

Ms. Mages leads a team at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that empowers enterprises, innovators, and creators to maximize their potential through the creation and commercialization of intellectual property. This includes the Inventor Assistance Program (IAP), which connects under-resourced inventors with volunteer patent attorneys and agents to navigate the patent system. Prior to her current role, Ms. Mages headed WIPO’s legislative and policy advice section for patents and trade secrets. She collaborated with more than 25 countries at different levels of development to update their legislative frameworks.

Prior to joining WIPO, Ms. Mages was Senior Counsel for IP at General Electric, where she most recently managed IP and technology aspects in M&A transactions. She also has extensive experience in IP policy development from the corporate perspective. Ms. Mages has worked across the innovation cycle, including as an inventor and through experience in patent analytics, drafting, prosecution, and strategic portfolio management.

Ms. Mages earned her Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and is a graduate of the Quinnipiac University School of Law. She is a member of the Connecticut bar and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Dilara Naz Gülüm is the Coordinator of TURKSMD which is the affiliated company of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. Her practice is focused on intellectual property consultation and valuation.

After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Ankara University with a high honor student degree and completing her legal traineeship, she became a member of the Ankara Bar in 2016. She represented both international and local clients before Turkish courts and administrative authorities for three years. She was the vice-president of Intellectual Property and Competition Law Commission of Ankara Bar Association from 2016 to 2018. Being successful in the exam of Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, she gained the title of trademark/patent attorney. In 2019, she became an IP Consultant in TURKSMD. After completing her master’s degree at Ankara University Social Sciences Institute with her thesis titled “The Consent Letter of the Trademark Holder”, she started her doctorate studies in 2020.

Nataša Milovanović has worked as a patent examiner in the field of medical devices at the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia since 2002, having graduated in mechanical engineering at the University of Belgrade.

She is also a member of Education and Information Center, which was founded with the aim of raising general awareness of IP, where she is responsible for education activities and services.

Ilja is senior economist at the European Patent Office.

He has co-authored several studies on the role of patents and technology for the European economy. He provides expert economic insight into issues relating to innovation and technology commercialisation.

Yann Ménière joined the EPO as Chief Economist in 2016. He has many years of extensive experience of providing economic insights into issues relating to patents, innovation and economic growth and contributes high-level expertise and analysis to public and expert forums on a regular basis. Yann led the chair on IP and Markets for Technology at MINES ParisTech where he was previously a professor of economics. He also lectured on the economics of IP at Imperial College London, the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and CEIPI. His research and expertise relate to the economics of innovation, competition and intellectual property.

Born in Ankara in 1976, Assoc. Dr. Evren Homan Gökçe graduated from Ege University Faculty of Pharmacy in 1998 and worked as a Research Assistant at the same university between 1999-2009. She completed his Master's Degree in 2001 and here PhD in 2007 at the same university. She carried out some of her doctoral studies at Pavia University Faculty of Pharmacy in Italy. She was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 2009-2013. She worked in Paris Sud-11- University Faculty of Pharmacy, France in 2012 within the scope of TÜBİTAK project in order to make post-doctoral studies. Evren Homan Gökçe is currently working as an Associate Professor at Ege University.

Her areas of interest include nano and microcarriers, drug targeting, topical applications and cosmetics. She is the author of many original research articles published in international refereed journals and chapters in international books. Assoc. Evren Homan Gökçe worked as an executive or researcher in more than 20 research projects. She has won Novartis Pharmaceutical Technology Project Support Award, 4th BBBB - Bled International Conference on Pharmaceutical Sciences, Young Scientists Humanitarian Award in Slovenia (Young Scientist Award), the European Union Leonardo da Vinci Mobility Project support, the US State Department GIST BOOTCAMP Turkey 2015 Entrepreneurship Program Championship ( February 2015).

Assoc. Dr. Evren Homan Gökçe is the co-founder of Dermis Pharma, which was established with the 1512 TUBITAK project in 2016.

Andreas Schuster is co-founder of Orcan Energy AG.

He studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich. After his diploma he received his doctorate with summa cum laude on the utilization of low-grade heat with Organic Rankine Cycle plants of small power.

Andreas Schuster is an expert in thermodynamics and is working since more than 15 years in this field of technology. At Orcan he was responsible for the technology development, he was in charge of the technology transfer to Orcans Chinese JV company and the successful market entry in Asia resulting in the world’s biggest engine power plant equipped with ORCs for waste heat recovery.

At present he is head of the Product Lifecycle Organization which is responsible for product development from the first idea including production und installation, commissioning, and service. He is also responsible for Orcans IP portfolio consisting of more than 140 granted patents and further property rights.

Murat Topcu is the CEO of Bama Technology, which he founded in 2010. Bama Technology is a high-tech company that develops and manufactures robotic rehabilitation systems. Murat Topcu graduated from Middle East Technical University in 1997. After working for 11 years in the private sector in various companies ranging from Fritolay to Meteksan, he decided to establish his own company. He has a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry and is known for his strong skills in market planning, requirements analysis, and entrepreneurship. In his spare time, Murat enjoys trekking with his family and friends, and he also enjoys spending time with his cats.

MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology.

Co-founder and VP of Marketing & Sales at Oxeon AB.