Students Have Been Selected to Pass Internship at the European Union Intellectual Property Office

With the support of the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – “Sakpatenti”, 2 graduates of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University will pass internship at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante. 

It is noteworthy the Pan-European Internship (PES) program was created in 2014 as a result of the joint work of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) and it serves to establish close connection between academia and the job market. Through active cooperation between Sakpatenti and the European Union, in March 2024, it became possible for Sakpatenti to join the above-mentioned program. After a year of negotiations, with direct participation and mediation of Sakpatenti, Georgian universities, namely, Tbilisi State University and Georgian Technical University were included in the Pan-European Internship (PES) program. The program is full- funded and it gives Georgian students an opportunity to gain modern knowledge and experience. 

For participation in the Pan-European Internship program, the European Patent Office selected 2 Georgian students - Tinatin Andghuladze, a Bachelor of the International School of Economics (ISET) of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, and Mariam Apakidze, a 2024 graduate of the Faculty of Law of the same university, who visited the Head Office of Sakpatenti today. Mr. Soso Giorgadze, Chairman of the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – “Sakpatenti”, met with the winners of the Pan-European Internship (PES) program, congratulated them on their victory in the competition and wished them success.

As Mr. Soso Giorgadze noted, for Sakpatenti support of students and graduates is one of the priority directions – through various courses, internship programs as well as training and educational projects, the office is constantly supporting students in increasing their interest in the intellectual property field and deepening their knowledge.

Within the PES program, Georgian graduates Mariam Apakidze and Tinatin Andghuladze will gain work experience at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) with the help of experts of the relevant field, will be directly involved in the activities of various departments and will participate in training courses on intellectual property and other educational activities. In addition, they will have an opportunity to acquire and improve their foreign language skills. 

It should be noted that future plans include offering internship for students from foreign universities participating in the PES program at Sakpatenti as well. 

As of today, 126 partner universities from 27 EU member states and 11 signatories of the European Patent Convention are participating in the PES program