TIRANA, April 26 /ATA/- The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, participated on Tuesday in the National Conference entitled “Intellectual Property and Youth – Innovation for a better future,” which was held on World Intellectual Property Day.
In his speech, addressing the youth, Veliaj said that their peers all over the world are facing the challenges of innovation and using their energy, ingenuity and creativity to build a better future.
“Today’s conference makes us understand that every idea, every invention, every achievement has a value in the market, a patent of its own and a way to protect this right. Therefore, I also see it as a fantastic emancipation campaign, whereby if someone has created a system that works, even here in our part of the world, we would be very glad to learn how it is done and if everyone learns from each other, then I believe everyone will emerge more knowledgeable from this experience today, because that way we get something practical for things that work and strategies that are feasible in our context,” he said.
Veliaj stated that the protection of intellectual property should serve as a moment of emancipation and inspiration for more ground-breaking ideas. “It is very important,” he said, “especially in the work we do with young people, to introduce concepts such as what it means to preserve your right, to preserve your idea, to invest in an idea that is unique.”
He added that our country should make up for the lost time and therefore technology is the best way for Albanian youth to invest. Veliaj underlined the fact that young people should aim for more than just a job in the public administration.
“In our entire region, not only in Albania or Kosovo, but also in Montenegro, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Serbia, in every survey, over 90% of young people still want to work in the state administration after graduating from university. The same young people, the same age group surveyed in Tel Aviv, in Estonia, in Latvia, in Lithuania, in Ireland respond that they want to work in private sector, they want to start their own business, they want to be their own ‘bosses.’ I believe that here we need to change this mindset. The state will employ less staff to become some kind of ‘light cavalry,’ in the meantime the private sector will be the large infantry,” said the mayor.
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