Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Many people have contributed to this book and encouraged me in the course of my research.

My greatest thanks go to Professor Brian Fitzgerald, one of the most amazing leaders and finest human beings with whom I have ever had the opportunity to cross paths.

I first met Brian at the Queensland University of Technology in 2009 when I was working on IP Australia’s submission to the National Innovation System Review. Brian and his sister, Dr. Anne Fitzgerald, sounded like a breeze of fresh air — talking with passion and determination about open innovation, free sharing of knowledge, and collaboration in online spaces. And there I was — coming from the Patent Office, where the prescribed narrative was the protection of ideas with intellectual property and making money from them. A whole new world opened up to me at that Brisbane meeting.

Nine years later, with this book finally complete, I remain eternally grateful for Brian’s wise counsel and support along the way.

I am also profusely thankful to Dr. John Gilchrist. Without John, this book would have never become a reality. His patient and steady approach and diligent comments on the numerous revisions of the text were consistently professional and thoughtful.

I am deeply indebted to Dr. Hans Peter Beck, Senior Physicist at the Atlas Collaboration at CERN, President of the Swiss Physics Society, and co-chair of the International Particle Outreach Group at CERN. I was fortunate to be one of the first people to visit the Large Hadron Collider at CERN immediately after its opening in early 2009. Hans Peter was there to show me around and has provided me with a great deal of support ever since.

Hans Peter also facilitated connections with so many others at CERN who have shared with me their knowledge and experiences with open data—namely Jens Vigen and Dr. Suenje Dallmeier-Tiessen from the CERN Library; Tibor Simko, Head Developer of the Invenio digital library software; Dr. Achim Geiser, Senior Physicist working in the CMS Collaboration; and his colleague Achintya Rao, also from the CMS collaboration.

I much appreciate the encouragement of Dr. David Secher, the world’s leading university technology transfer expert and the former Senior Bursar at Gonville & Caius College at the University of Cambridge. I first met David at the Praxis Unico technology transfer training in Melbourne in 2010 and we have managed to keep in touch over the years. Communications with David have helped me to internally reconcile some of the seemingly opposing approaches between open sharing of scientific knowledge and the protection of public research with intellectual property.

I gratefully acknowledge all the time, support, and encouragement I have received from my good friend, linguist, “resident philosopher”, and accomplished broadcaster Dr. Heinrich Stefanik OAM. When I first came to Canberra in 2002, I had little notion of what it takes to communicate with ease and to write with clarity, and how to make technical writings more accessible to diverse audiences. Heinrich spent hundreds of hours listening to me, discussing, and editing my writings over and over again. He also reviewed the early chapters of this book.

I thank Professor Anne-Laure Mention of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. The founding co-editor of the Journal of Innovation Management, Anne-Laure provided me with the opportunity to act as a guest editor of the journal and the opportunity to publish portions of this study in the book Open Innovation: A Multifaceted Perspective (World Press Scientific/Imperial College Press).

Next, I acknowledge the assistance I received from IP Australia in 2009 to study changing models of intellectual property management in the context of open innovation. This professional development project informed early stages of my research. I particularly thank my former colleagues Geoff Sadlier, Ian Goss, and Brendan Bourke for helping me organize the study tour and, more recently, sharing references to latest reports and developments in the field.

I thank Professor Dov Greenbaum, Dr. Ben Atkinson, Dr. Kylie Pappalardo, Dr. Cheryl Foong, Mr. Brett Walker, Mr. Dimitris Pierides and Dr. Barbara Petropoulou-Lillikas for their continued support on my academic journey.

I thank IntechOpen for recognising this book as part of the Women in Science program.

The list of people who have contributed to this book would not be complete without Martin Freckmann. I am grateful for his professional and timely feedback and edits.

My thoughts and blessings go to my colleagues and quiet supporters all over the world, and especially in Australia, Israel, United States, Cyprus, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Germany, and New Zealand.

My warmest thanks go to Nicos. It is so wonderful to share life with you in Cyprus.

Last but not least, I would like to honour my mother, and appreciate her boundless love and vast competence. I would have never had the time and the means to do what I have done in life without the generous support and understanding I have received from her.

Vera Lipton