"Malta is a goldmine," said American Professor Pamela Evers, citing various "fantastic opportunities" it has to exploit the potential of what she termed its "unique cultural and intellectual wealth", which formed a base for countless business opportunities, whether in the tourism, telecommunications, biotechnology or IT fields.
"Most other island nations would never be able to do what Malta can do in this regard," she remarked.
An attorney-at-law specialised in the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, she was in Malta recently on a US-sponsored Fulbright Senior Specialist assignment to show the University of Malta how to better exploit its researchers' work to generate additional income its own benefit, as well as to better reward its research staff.
In thinking about introducing an IPR policy the University of Malta was "ahead of the game compared to most European universities of a similar size," Professor Evers said. She explained that while big US universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stamford University had long been involved in the commercialisation of their researchers' work and technology transfers, it is only during the last five years that other US universities had really started thinking seriously about working with businesses to jointly reap the rewards their researchers' work.
She was very impressed at the cutting-edge research the University of Malta is conducting in areas such as metallurgy, artificial intelligence, science, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. "Some of your university professors are really sharp," she remarked, adding that they could make a lot of money both for the University and themselves.
"The brand new Mater Dei Hospital right next to the University has great potential to attract professors from all over the world wanting to conduct medical research," she added. She also praised the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) for the work it was doing to exploit Malta's expertise in these fields.
"It is no wonder that SmartCity was attracted to Malta. It is a much more pleasant place to outsource to, than say, India. And it provides excellent linkages between Europe, North Africa and the Near East that businesses can exploit for secure transhipment, for example," Malta's smallness was also an advantage, she maintained, because this enabled it to respond quickly and adapt flexibly to changing market demands.
She said that anything that was indigenous and typical of Malta - including liqueurs, wine and indigenous plants, that could potentially have medicinal properties - should be protected by trademarks so that they could be safely exploited commercially, especially for the export market.
At a meeting with Brian St John, policy co-ordinator at the OPM, together with Jeffrey Anderson, public and cultural affairs attaché at the US embassy, she emphasised that if Malta protected its intellectual property, including traditional environmental knowledge and crafts, and prioritised "green", environmentally sound technologies, this could help boost Malta's economic progress.
Giving an example of how a trademark could boost a product's marketability, she remarked: "Abroad everybody has heard about the Maltese cross and the Knights of Malta, but not many people know about Malta itself."
Among the courses that Professor Evers teaches at her home university are the "Legal issues of the film and entertainment industry" and "The business of film", the latter course also involving film director Frank Capra Junior. "As soon as I arrive home I intend talking to Mr Capra about using Malta as a film location in future," she said.
Besides policy documents and contracts with which to introduce its IPR policy, Professor Evers may have given the University of Malta a little something extra. In America every university has its own official T-shirts, the sale of which generates income both for the universities as well as their student associations; so she was surprised when she found that the University of Malta didn't have any.
However, the University authorities may now realise the benefits of introducing 'University of Malta' T-shirts, which Professor Evers said would be very popular, not least with foreign university students; "I've also suggested a couple of slogans they could feature on them," she added.