Frank Cuypers is a nuclear engineer, a M.Sc. in nuclear physics and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics, with a vast lecturing experience and a prominent scientific track record. As Chief Actuary for Zurich Financial Services he has acquired a wide expertise in reinsurance, natural catastrophe modeling and risk management. In 2001 he joined Swiss Re to build up its Intellectual Property department. As Head of Intellectual Property, he pioneered the company’s patent strategy and successfully implemented its technology transfer program.In 2006 he became the Executive Director of AIPPI, and led the NGO in its worldwide promotion and harmonization of Intellectual Property.Today Frank is developing PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Swiss actuarial consulting practice.

Abstract

At the end of the last century a whole industry, the financial services industry, discovered with dread that it had intellectual property, and that this intellectual property was at risk. One of the most innovative players in the field, Swiss Re, decided to react by creating the first IP department in the insurance industry. 
This presentation will relate the history of this undertaking, and summarise the experience of setting up an Intellectual Property Department from scratch. It will depict the challenges facing all stakeholders within the company when dealing with this unfamiliar source of risks and opportunities, and it will address the wider context of the various reactions of the competitors and other players in the financial services arena. Finally, it will illustrate the importance of implementing a long term intellectual property strategy and identify the lessons learned