The Ivan Allen College School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech has established a new undergraduate certificate program in Intellectual Property (IP). The IP certificate program coincides with multi-dimensional efforts to strengthen Metropolitan Atlanta’s innovation eco-system. Vital to that are the Georgia Tech innovation neighborhoods such as Technology Square, Technology Enterprise Park, and the North Avenue Research Area, all part of the intellectual property or “idea” ecosystem centered around the Institute’s entrepreneurial faculty, students, and staff, and our connections through technology-based sectors including telecommunications, software, the entertainment industry, and the government sector that support such ingenuity.

According to the program director John Walsh, professor in the School of Public Policy, “Georgia Tech students are eager to be part of these innovative activities.”

The interdisciplinary IP Certificate will teach undergraduate students about law, business strategies, and public policies affecting or affected by intellectual property. It will benefit students interested in careers ranging from patent agents (computing, engineering, or science majors only), to intellectual property lawyers, to business executives who need to recognize the value of a company's intellectual property, to engineers who need to be aware of IP issues in their work, to students working in the policy arena related to intellectual property and innovation.

The IP certificate is designed to inform students that take the certificate courses how to protect and capitalize on their ideas. The certificate also facilitates Georgia Tech’s goal of ensuring that innovation and entrepreneurship are fundamental characteristics of its graduates.

Students enrolled in the certificate program will complete twelve semester hours of approved course work. They will also have the opportunity to take classes from a list of approved electives from the Ivan Allen College Schools of Public Policy, History and Sociology, and Literature Media and Communications; the Scheller College of Business, and the College of Engineering.

Walsh added, “The program is designed to bridge across the Colleges at the Institute to highlight the variety of problems and opportunities inherent in a changing policy environment and its impact on an idea ecosystem. In addition to exposing students to directly IP-related career options, the certificate is designed to prepare those going into other careers for dealing with IP issues in their work.  Georgia Tech and the School of Public Policy are uniquely placed to host such a multi-disciplinary IP program, because of the depth of research and teaching capabilities in this area, in the Ivan Allen College and across the campus.”

To learn more about the IP certificate, program requirements, and courses, visit the certificate website at https://spp.gatech.edu/undergraduate/certificates/intellectual-property.