Nigel Clarke

Nigel started at the EPO in The Hague as patent examiner in the field of electron and ion optics. He moved on to IT project management and procurement, and his tasks expanded to include IT training coordination. Later he moved to Vienna and assumed a number of roles: international cooperation projects with EPO contracting states, marketing and promotion of patent information. Nigel was the EPO’s main lecturer and presenter for patent information on the Regional Intellectual Property Programme (RIPP) which was part of the acquis communautaire – the pre-requisite of the EU 4th Enlargement 1995-2004. He took a similar role for the EU programme of Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS) for the Western Balkan countries (2004-2007).

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He was, for many years, the application manager for the suite of the EPO’s online public patent information products such as Espacenet, Register, Patent Translate, CPC Browser and CCD. He rounded off his career as Head of Patent Analytics, in which role he set up the Future and Emerging Technology Analysis (FETA) project and travelled widely (including Europe, the Americas, Middle East, South East Asia and China) to promote the EPO’s patent information products and services. He has written, published and presented extensively on general and specific aspects of IP.

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Prior to joining the EPO, Nigel was a UK government scientist with experience in nuclear energy (applications in condensed matter physics) and defence (focussed energy sources i.e. laser, ion, electron, X-ray beams with applications in materials microanalysis).

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Nigel has a first class honours degree in physical chemistry and a PhD in neutron science from the University of Exeter (UK).