Windsor Law professor Myra J. Tawfik has begun a two-year term as EPICentre Professor in Intellectual Property Commercialization and Strategy, attendees learned yesterday at the celebration of the centre’s first anniversary.

The Entrepreneurship, Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre), the Faculty of Law, and the Office of Research Innovation and Services jointly announced the appointment, which took effect January 4.

“Professor Tawfik’s extensive expertise in intellectual property (IP) law, IP strategy, and capacity building in IP law and strategy will significantly advance the EPICentre’s research and outreach initiatives in IP commercialization and the strategic management of IP,” said a news release of the announcement.

Tawfik has been a professor in the Faculty of Law since 1991 and has taught and published widely in the area of intellectual property law. Most recently, her research has been focused on studying models and tools for strengthening the legal framework within entrepreneurial eco-systems. Among other projects, she established IP law clinics on the UWindsor campus and facilitated an arrangement between Windsor Law and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) or a summer clinic at the Communitech Accelerator in Waterloo.

A senior fellow at CIGI’s International Law Research Program, Tawfik is leading its project on capacity-building in IP legal knowledge and access to legal services for start-ups and entrepreneurs. She is also developing for CIGI a free massive open online course for a start-up and entrepreneurial audience. The course is currently being integrated into a new course at Windsor Law and will be pilot-tested at EPICentre to test its adaptability to other disciplines.