With just over two weeks to go until the IP Business Congress starts in Cascais, Portugal, here are a few facts and figures on where things stand:

• As of last Friday (1st June), we had 556 registrations for the event. That is higher than the figure we had at the equivalent time last year for the San Francisco IPBC. If everyone makes it to Portugal, it should be the biggest IPBC so far.

• In terms of current breakdown, I calculate that 48% of attendees are senior representatives of IP owning organisations, 24% come from private practice law and patent/TM attorney firms, 22% are intermediaries and aggregators, and 6% are from other areas.

• We have registrants from 38 countries, the top five of which are the US (32.6%), the UK (14.5%), Portugal (9.4%), Germany (6.3%) and Canada (5.6%).

As there is still a fortnight and a few days left until we kick off on 24th June, all of the above is subject to change, of course, but it does give you a flavour of how things are shaping up.

There are a very limited number of spaces left to attend the IPBC, so if you do want to come along to discuss and debate cutting edge issues around IP value creation with senior players from industry and the investment community, as well as intermediaries and aggregators, you should sign up as soon as possible. You can do that here.

For lovers of Fado, Portugal’s bittersweet and soulful musical gift to the world, the IP Hall of Fame Gala Dinner on Monday 25th June is something not to be missed. We are delighted and proud to say that Carminho – a major star of the genre, with a string of hits to her name – will be performing on stage for us at the Estoril Casino. You will need to book a ticket in order to see her in action, as well as to salute the achievements of this year’s six inductees into the IP Hall of Fame.

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