site.btaOver 1,600 Delegates Gather in Geneva for WIPO General Assembly

More than 1,600 delegates from the 194 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have convened in Geneva, Switzerland, for the 66th session of the WIPO General Assembly. The event is held from July 8 to 17 at the organization’s headquarters.

Representing Bulgaria at the high-level forum is the Chair of the Bulgarian Patent Office, Olya Dimitrova, joined by Ambassador Yuri Sterk, Bulgaria’s Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva; Counsellor Lyutskan Petrov; and the Patent Office’s Secretary General, Veronika Todorova.

This year’s assembly sees record participation from more than 40 ministers and deputy ministers, and nearly 100 heads of national patent offices. The gathering serves as a platform for exchanging expertise, showcasing achievements, and shaping new global strategies to enhance intellectual property systems.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang opened the assembly with a warm welcome to the Federated States of Micronesia, which officially joined the WIPO Convention in June as the organization’s 194th member. Tang emphasized the resilience of the global innovation ecosystem, noting that over 40 intellectual property applications are filed every minute worldwide.

He highlighted a dramatic rise in filings, with more than 20 million applications submitted annually since 2018, reaching 23 million in 2023—a 150% increase compared to 2010. One-third of the more than three million patents filed each year are related to digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity, and the Internet of Things, underscoring the growing digitalization of innovation.