On Wednesday, 30 November, at the Riga Motor Museum, the Patent Office welcomed the winners of the "Creative Intellectual" competition and announced the winner of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Schoolchildren’s Medal.
The Patent Office organized the competition for schoolchildren in cooperation with its partners for the fourth time already. It aims to award student teams that have been, according to the jury's assessment, more successful in carrying out creative tasks. This year’s competition participants were invited to develop two creative assignments on intellectual property issues that would be relevant to their peers, such as inventions and patents, trademarks, designs, protection against counterfeiting, and the importance of industrial property in business.
This year, 51 teams from 26 Latvian schools submitted their works for the competition, reaching a record number of applications. The winners in three grade categories as well as the winners of the Patent Office’s sympathy and promotion awards were announced.
The winner of the WIPO Schoolchildren’s Medal became the team “Ekskluzīvās partneres” (Exclusive Partners) presented by two 6th grade students Krista Grigoroviča and Evelīna Laukazīle from Aizkraukle Region Secondary School. Under the guidance of their teacher Kristīne Balta, the girls developed two games - “Teiksim patentiņam jā vai nē” (Let's say yes or no to the patent) and “Izgudrojumi” (Inventions) that encourage creative thinking and test your knowledge.
“We were very impressed by the schoolchildren’s creativity and implementation of ideas. Compared to other years, this year, the younger grade groups proved their strength and won the main title, showing that even younger children have the power to create original ideas and make inventions. All young people were really creative and made their works on such a complicated topic as intellectual property exciting and understandable for their peers,” noted the Director of the Patent Office Agris Batalauskis.
This time, two teams took the first place in the 4th-6th grade group - “Ekskluzīvās partneres” (Exclusive Partners) from Aizkraukle Region Secondary School and the team "Trīs draugi var daudz" (Three friends can do a lot) from Druva Secondary School. The second place in the youngest grade group was won by "RI komanda" (RI Team), while the third place was taken by the team “EXTRA mopsīši” (EXTRA Pug Doggies), both teams representing Aizkraukle Region Secondary School.
The criteria for the evaluation of student works were strict, therefore, in the 7th-9th grade group, the jury decided to award only a promotion prize to the team "Dreamteam" from Ventspils Secondary School No. 6 and Ugale Secondary School.
"The jury evaluated the works according to four criteria - the accuracy of the facts, originality of the idea, artistic quality and technical performance. The jury paid attention to the ability to go deep into the topic and to the fact, how interesting the examples used in the tasks were and if they were original,” explained Batalauskis.
In the high school group, the jury did not award the first place, but the second place was shared by two teams - "Neierobežots radošums" (Unlimited Creativity), representing 4th course students of Jekabpils Agrobusiness College, and "Intelektuālais sprādziens" (Intellectual Explosion) from Babīte Secondary School. The third place was won by the 11th grade student team "Mācies, radi, motivē!" (Learn, Create, Motivate!) from Preiļi State Gymnasium.
The Patent Office’s sympathy award went to the 4th grade student team "Patents nav tik sarežģīts vārds, kā liekas, bet, lai to iegūtu – ir jāzina lietas!" (The word “patent” is not as complicated as it seems, but to obtain a patent you need knowledge!) from Riga French Lycee.
The awards ceremony was led by a comedian Mārtiņš Kozlovskis, whereas the “Zili brīnumi” (Blue Wonders) show of physics experiments succeeded in surprising the audience. A total of 30 students and their teachers attended the event in person.
The 1st place winners were presented with tablet PCs, the 2nd place winners got wireless speakers, and the 3rd place winners received wireless headphones. The teachers who helped the students realize their ideas got bookshop gift cards.
The Patent Office organizes the competition in cooperation with their partners - the National Centre for Education, Junior Achievement Latvia, the Association of Patent Attorneys of Latvia, and the Latvian National Group of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI). The competition is supported by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
Picture Gallery from event view.