This webinar explored the business case for diversity and inclusion, in particular in a rapidly evolving commercial landscape where clients and competitors are themselves becoming more diversity-aware. It introduced the IP Inclusive “toolkit” prepared on the basis of our November 2017 workshop, and looked further at how increased diversity and inclusivity can benefit an organisation’s internal efficiency; its talent recruitment and retention; its relationships with clients and other external stakeholders; its risk and compliance management; and its overall financial performance and competitive advantage.
The event was aimed at not only fee-earning IP professionals, but also anyone involved in recruitment or HR or with influence over their organisations’ EDI policies (for example practice managers, diversity champions and IP Inclusive Charter EDI officers). It aimed to help listeners assemble a compelling case for diversity and inclusion, which they could take back to their own organisations to persuade colleagues on board.
The speakers were Andrea Brewster (IP Inclusive leader), Ben Buchanan (Deputy Director, Patents, Intellectual Property Office), Hannah Edwards (HR Manager, Marks & Clerk LLP), John Kennedy (Head of Marketing Strategy & Client Services, Wildbore & Gibbons LLP) and Deborah Richards (Diversity & Inclusion Leader UK & Ireland, IBM).
You can access a recording of the webinar here, and the 2017 toolkit that it’s based on here.
Following the webinar, we produced a “tube map” poster: a visual summary of the inter-connected business benefits of D&I, designed to help spark discussions in meetings. Download the poster from our resources page here, and read our blog post about it here.