The Henry Lester Institute Trademark Brand Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base was officially inaugurated at the historical school on Hongkou’s North Bund waterfront on April 24 to celebrate the 24th World Intellectual Property Day.
The Henry Lester Institute of Technical Education, a historic building with a 90-year legacy, has been revitalized through a comprehensive renovation in 2022.
It is now home to the Design Innovation Institute Shanghai, as a talent hub in industry, academia and research, driving Hongkou's technological and creative design innovation.
The city’s Intellectual Property Bureau approved establishing the Henry Lester Institute Trademark Brand Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base to fully leverage trademark branding's driving effect.
During the opening ceremony, the North Bund Intellectual Property Mediation Studio, co-founded by the Hongkou market supervision bureau, the district’s judicial bureau, the court, and the Procuratorate, was officially unveiled.
A dispute mediation expert team, composed of experts in intellectual property from law firms, IP service institutions and universities, was also formed to support the studio’s mediation services.
The event focused on intellectual property protection and transformation. Representatives from key Hongkou enterprises, including PATEO, Shanghai Jahwa, Zhongtai Energy, and Dewu App, shared their experiences and practices in intellectual property protection and application.
Outside the venue, various government departments set up booths to provide intellectual property legal consultation and rights protection assistance to attending businesses.
Several banks offered advice on IP pledge financing. The district’s IP bureau also distributed the "Patent Transformation and Utilization Policy Compilation" to businesses, providing a guide on key patent transformation tasks and policies through the event, industrial parks, and government service channels.
The IP bureau said it emphasized the importance of fully integrating intellectual property development into Hongkou's regional economic and social development agenda.
The district aims to continue driving the full-chain development of intellectual property, unleashing the innovative value and economic benefits of intellectual property to inject strong momentum into high-quality regional economic development and help build a "New Urban Benchmark on Shanghai’s North Bund."