Innovation Law

The Innovation Law course envisages the concept of “innovation” from a legal perspective. This concept underlies or is at the core of several policy decisions adopted by a myriad of actors, but it cannot be framed into a single body of law. Many laws are involved in relation to the concept of innovation: laws on intellectual property, competition, data, digital economy, tax incentives, sustainability, liability, etc. The articulation of policies, legal rules and standards is also complex and remains to be fully identified. It is also constantly evolving, following several external factors (technical, economic, political, etc.).

The class proposes a general conceptual framework for designing this emerging « Innovation Law », allowing inclusion of any branch of the law. This framework includes any rule that contributes either to the promotion, or to the regulation of innovation. The content of the class is structured following that dichotomy.

As the concept of innovation can be conceived strictly (purely technical), or overly broadly (“X-innovation”), it is taken the stance in this class to consider the concept in light of two global challenges, namely the development of artificial intelligence and the environmental transition. Accordingly, “responsible and sustainable innovation” will be the leading object of the laws to be studied.

The course focuses on EU law, without excluding references to national laws (EU or non-EU Member States).

The course is organized in two parts. In the first part, the “skeleton” of the framework under EU law is introduced to the students, with references to legal rules and standards. In the second part, it is “fleshed out” by students who will contribute through presentations of selected readings from the scholarship on Innovation Law. Contributions from the students will be both oral and written. The oral presentations will define the substance of the second part of the course. The written contribution will feed a long-term collective project aiming at contributing identifying Innovation Law, and simply entitled Designing Innovation Law.

The course is organized on the Usquare campus.

The objectives of the class are the following:

• Equipping the students with tools for approaching the concept of innovation from an interdisciplinary perspective, with special emphasis on the legal perspective;
• Making the students become familiar with the literature in English on Innovation Law;
• Developing the students’ critical thinking on innovation discourses;
• Making the students contribute to a long-term collective project aiming at contributing to the literature on Innovation Law.

At the end of the class, the students will be able to:

• Read and comment on the literature on Innovation Law;
• Discuss in general concepts of Innovation Law covered in class;
• Discuss more in depth the concepts of Innovation Law that are core to the selected reading they were asked to present or comment on.

Connaissances et compétences pré-requises ou co-requises

The course is entirely and exclusively given in English. Students must have at least a B2 level to be able to participate to the course.

The course takes the form of an interactive seminar (in English). It is accompanied with the contribution to the Designing Innovation Law project.

Participation to all sessions of the seminar is mandatory.

During the seminar, each student (individually or in group, depending on the number of students) will present one of the selected reading to the class. He/she will also comment on the presentation made by an other student (or group of students) of another selected reading.

This presentation must be based on his/her written contribution (in English) to the Designing Innovation Law project. This written contribution will consist in a critical analysis of the selected reading allocated to the students and a collection of relevant data, following the guidelines detalled in class.

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

Cf. Université virtuelle

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Informations complémentaires

The students enrolled in the class will commit to contribute seriously to the project Designing Innovation Law. Accordingly, they will be requested to sign a copyright assignment contract for the contents created in the context of this project, allowing their possible reuse and dissemination.

Contacts

Professor: julien.cabay@ulb.be
Assistant: alexia.dehaes@ulb.be

Campus

Autre campus

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Travail pratique
• Présentation orale
• Travail de groupe
• Rapport écrit

Travail pratique

Présentation orale

Travail de groupe

Rapport écrit

Construction de la note (en ce compris, la pondération des notes partielles)

The written contribution to the project Designing Innovation Law weights 50% in the evaluation. Depending on the number of students participating to the course, the contribution will be individual or collective. Students will be graded accordingly (individual or collective grade).

The oral presentation of the selected reading allocated to the student weights 25% in the evaluation. The grade is individual, unless it is based on a collective contribution. In that case, it is a collective grade.

The oral comment made on the presentation by another student (or group of students) of another selected reading weights 25% in the evaluation. The grade is individual.

General rules: 

• Attendance and participation in class are mandatory and a prerequisite for passing the course;
• Students who clearly did not participate in the group work will receive an individual grade separate from the group’s grade.
• Specific guidelines will be given to the students as to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of this class. Responsibility for the breach of the AI guidelines in a collective work will be borne by all the students participating to the collective, without any exception.

As part of this course, attendance at learning activities and participation in teaching methods are subject to continuous assessment and constitute a necessary criterion for passing (Art. 66 and 137, para. 1 of the Décret Paysage*). Students who do not participate in all or part of these activities will be marked absent (Art. 67, § 1, para. 3). Furthermore, due to the nature of the assessment of learning activities, it is conducted only once during the academic year (Art. 138, para. 4 of the Higher Education Framework Decree).

*Décret du 7 novembre 2013 définissant le paysage de l’enseignement supérieur et l’organisation académique des études, M.B., 18 décembre 2013, p. 99347


 

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais