Warwick Law School and Nanjing University Law School bridged continents on March 12, 2025, through an interactive joint class focused on intellectual property and global innovation systems.

Professor Ken Shao, Distinguished Professor and Founding Director of the Global Intellectual Property Institute at Nanjing University's Suzhou campus, delivered an insightful lecture on “Innovation, Intellectual Property, and the China Case.” His presentation explored China's evolving intellectual property framework and its complex, multi-layered innovation ecosystem, highlighting both remarkable achievements and ongoing challenges. The session featured dynamic Q&A and meaningful interactions between students from both universities.

Dr Svitlana Lebedenko, Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick, organised this cross-cultural academic exchange as part of her postgraduate module “Industrial Policy, Innovation, and Law.” The module examines how intellectual property law can be strategically designed to achieve broader policy objectives within different national contexts. Students analyse major innovation systems across the United States, China, the European Union, and India, while also exploring emerging developments in the African Union.

Through comparative case studies, participants develop critical skills for assessing the regulatory policy space available to countries under international agreements like TRIPS, gaining valuable global perspective on intellectual property's role in driving innovation and economic development.