Prof. Pina D’Agostino is the Founder and Director of IP Osgoode, the IP Innovation Clinic, and the IP Intensive Program, and the Editor-in-Chief of the IPilogue.

As 2022 comes to an end, I would like to thank everyone who has worked with IP Osgoode and made it as successful as it has become over the past year and since its very beginning in 2008.

When I first joined Osgoode Hall Law School as a professor in 2006, I dreamed of building closer bridges between academia, government, industry and expert hubs in Canada and around the world. I dreamed of engaging students, academics, legal professionals, and global community members in a meaningful, balanced, respectful, evidence-based and forward-thinking dialogue over IP and tech issues. With the support and partnership of some of my most treasured colleagues and mentors, this vision became IP Osgoode, the university’s flagship IP & Tech program that I founded in 2008.

In 14 years, IP Osgoode has engaged thousands of students, hundreds of partnerships across academia, government and industry, and has attracted over $3 million in public and private funding. We have hosted 101 events, including the first ever legal hackathon of its kind, and welcomed leaders from academia, industry, government, the judiciary, and private practice from around the world. The award-winning IPilogue has published over 3000 original blog posts and 1400 comments, written by over 200 IPilogue Team members, as well as guest writers from Osgoode and the broader IP community. With support from IP Osgoode, Osgoode has reached 7 IP moot finals, with one big win, 5 second place finishes, and one third place finish, and winning 4 further awards.

IP Osgoode has supported the development of my two other passion projects. Through the IP Innovation Clinic that I founded in 2010, over 200 students have helped almost 500 under-resourced clients to realize, protect, and commercialize their IP, saving cash-strapped clients over $2 million in legal costs that would have otherwise been billable and helping them secure funds that supported global operations and created new jobs. Through the IP Intensive program that I founded in 2010, 133 students have completed 10-week internships for academic credit with 26 partner organizations, a feat yet unparalleled by any other program.

Our countless student internships and graduate research opportunities have diversified the international IP law dialogue, and I am so proud of our alumni who have leveraged their experiences into successful careers and now give back to our programming and the wider community. I constantly hear students citing that they accepted offers from Osgoode so that they could join the IP Intensive and IP Innovation Clinic, and stories about prospective law students around the world being drawn to the force that is IP Osgoode.

As 2022 comes to an end, I share that my own tenure as Director of IP Osgoode also ends as I transition to my new role as the Founding Co-Director of the newly minted York University Centre for AI & Society (CAIS). I will continue to work on the IP Innovation Clinic and the IP Intensive and look ahead with excitement to continuing to grow these initiatives. I will cherish the lessons I have learned and the relationships I have built at IP Osgoode and will continue to empower my students and community to make their mark in the innovation ecosystem.

As of January 1, 2023, I am delighted that my colleague, Prof. Carys Craig, will take over as Director of IP Osgoode, and I wish her all the best in guiding our students forward and lifting IP Osgoode to new heights.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday Season, and a healthy, successful, and creative New Year!

Warmest wishes,

Prof Pina D’Agostino

Founding Director, IP Osgoode