The IPR-A Project (Intellectual Property Rights for Athletes) is a transnational initiative co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme. It is a collaborative effort between three partner organisations: TERO PC from Greece, INQUIRIUM Ltd from Cyprus, and SEA from Portugal. The project is designed to support athletes both during and after their professional sporting careers, while also educating relevant stakeholders and target groups, including coaches and sports professionals. It aims to equip these individuals with essential skills and knowledge, focusing particularly on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and the concept of dual careers. Recognising that, for many athletes, regardless of their success in sport, alternative financial pathways are often a necessity, the IPR-A project seeks to empower them to pursue dual career paths. This includes the development of competencies beyond athletic performance, while also understanding and effectively leveraging IPR-related knowledge.
To fulfil these aims, Inquirium Ltd (https://inquirium.eu/) organised three educational seminars targeting students of Sports and Exercise Science at UCLan Cyprus, reaching over 45 participants in total. Each seminar comprised both an in-person session and a follow-up online session. The chosen audience consisted of students who are prospective coaches and trainers, many of whom are currently active in coaching or are athletes themselves.
Throughout these seminars, students explored the importance of dual careers in athletics, the significance of intellectual property, and how IPR affects athletes. They also learned about the different types of intellectual property and the processes involved in registering IPR in Cyprus. A major highlight of the in-person seminars was the participation of Mr Nectarios Alexandrou, a former professional footballer and current founder of GDA Sports (https://gdasports.com/). Mr Alexandrou delivered a compelling presentation on dual careers, emphasising the importance of pursuing education alongside a professional sports career. He discussed the impact of external factors such as family, teammates, and coaches on an athlete’s dual career development, as well as the psychological and well-being benefits of preparing for life after retirement from professional sport. His session concluded with an open Q&A, where students had the opportunity to engage directly and gain personal insights into his experiences and achievements.
In addition to Mr Alexandrou, IPR-A project, along with Inquirium Ltd was delighted to welcome Dr Christodoulos Karitevlis, founder of Humeral Technologies (https://www.humeral.io/), as a guest speaker during one of the three online seminars. Dr Karitevlis shared his expertise on entrepreneurship and intellectual property, discussing how to transform a business idea into reality, the regulations that must be considered, and how to protect innovation through intellectual property rights in Cyprus. He also provided an overview of Humeral Technologies, its mission, and its role in advancing biomechanics. His presentation concluded with a Q&A session, where he addressed a range of questions concerning intellectual property and stressed the importance of safeguarding ideas, regardless of their scale or industry.
Overall, the seminars offered a comprehensive and practical introduction to dual careers and intellectual property, tailored to support the future generation of sports professionals.
To learn more about Intellectual Property Rights for Athletes, you can follow IPR-A on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn, as well as visit the project’s official website, which includes IPR-A’s Online Repository, where you can find multitudes of relevant articles and cases regarding the topic.
Source: UCLan Cyprus | Discover | Happenings | Highlights (https://tinyurl.com/ykwp8jm8)