Our first ever “IP Inclusive Week” took place from 12-18 November 2018. Its aims were to:
We called on all of our supporters to do at least one thing during IP Inclusive Week, however small, to improve D&I, and asked them to share that via our blog and other social media outlets. We were thrilled by the levels of participation in, and enthusiasm for, the new campaign.
Charter signatories around the country organised activities and events ranging from workshops, discussions and training sessions to the publication of internal fact sheets on diversity-related issues. Some launched initiatives that will continue to have an impact well into the future, such as internal D&I committees or action groups. Many organised internal social events such as tea and cake, lunches, a games session or even a wheelchair obstacle course. Others raised funds for relevant charities. A great deal of cake was eaten, much of it rainbow-coloured.
Some organisations provided us with guest blogs to mark IP Inclusive Week, or published blogs by IP Inclusive supporters. We were also invited to take part in an IP Federation Council meeting and a discussion on “Diversity as a brand value” at Hogan Lovells’ Annual Brands Seminar.
A dedicated blog page on our website posted ideas and supporting resources during the run-up to IP Inclusive Week, the resources including suggested workshop exercises on unconscious bias, kindly provided by the IPO’s Ben Buchanan; a presentation on the role of D&I champions; a resource pack for running a work experience event, compiled by Chris Burnett and colleagues at A.A. Thornton & Co; and the “Steps to Inclusion” D&I review developed for us by Focal Point Training.
During the week itself, the blog was updated several times a day with tweets and posts from participating organisations, generating a delightful “scrapbook” record of the week. Activity on our Twitter account reached (for us) record levels. We hope that the publicity the campaign generated – for everyone involved – will also have brought us new supporters. It felt like a celebration.
We intend to run IP Inclusive Week annually from now on.
Take a look at some of the entries below from our IP Inclusive Week “scrapbook”, or check out our news and features page and filter for “IP Inclusive Week 2018”.
