Theme: Complex Actions

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Riva del Mandracchio, 4
Trieste, 34123
Italy

Luca Escoffier

Luca Escoffier graduated in law from the University of Parma in 2001, he then earned a Master of Laws in intellectual property law in 2003 (WIPO). After some years spent in law firms and in an Italian nano-biotech company, he moved to Seattle in 2008 to work as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Washington (“UW”). Luca, from 2008 to 2010, was one of the editors of the RCLIP IP precedent database, which has been developed by Waseda University, under the direction of Professor Takabayashi, in conjunction with the Center for Advanced Studies in Intellectual Property (“CASRIP”), directed by Professor Takenaka at UW. Luca is completing his doctoral thesis at Queen Mary College, University of London, on the issue of patentability and valuation of inventions in nanotechnology and two books on the topic are going to be published in 2011. Luca writes regularly for international journals of intellectual property law, and he is a Fellow of the Stanford-Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum. He has an academic interest in industrial law, and he is passionate about technology transfer. In this regard, Luca was one of the four experts in intellectual property law that have been selected in 2009 as Fellows at the Institute of Intellectual Property in Tokyo, which is sponsored by the Japanese Patent Office, to write a report on knowledge transfer activities in Europe and Japan. Luca was one of the 80 students from Singularity University (in 2010) chosen from a pool of 1600 Applicants to spend 10 weeks at the campus of NASA Ames in Mountain View (Silicon Valley). Eventually, Luca (at a personal level, not representing UAS) works as IP consultant in Italy for several entities like the University of Trieste, where he advises the Industrial Liaison Office on the commercialization of the technologies developed by the University.

Kevin Johnson

Kevin Johnson is a Partner at Index Ventures working out of the London office. Prior to that he was CEO of PanGenetics, an antibody development company based in the Netherlands, and one of the |ndex Ventures portfolio. Kevin was one of the team at Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), heading up research from 1994 onwards. In 1997 he was appointed to the Board, where he held the posts of Research Director and Chief Technology Officer. Kevin led both the development of CAT's platform technologies, and also their application to the discovery of a number of human antibodies currently in clinical development, as well as marketed drugs Humira and Benlysta. He was also part of the management team that floated CAT on the London Stock Exchange (main market).