Prof. Bassem Awad is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Area of Concentration in Intellectual Property, Information, and Technology (IPIT) Law at Western Law. He is the Founder and Faculty Director of the Western Intellectual Property and Innovation Legal Clinic (WIPILC) and serves as a Visiting Professor at the Academy of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. Since 2021, he has been nominated as Chair and Coordinator of the African Union ASRIC Taskforce on Intellectual Property.
Prior to joining Western, Prof. Awad served as Deputy Director of Intellectual Property and Innovation at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). He previously served for several years as a Judge and Head of Court at the Appeal Courts of Egypt and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Prof. Awad has extensive expertise in intellectual property, technology law, and innovation policy and governance. His research focuses on the governance of intellectual property and innovation systems, with particular attention to how frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data, reshape intellectual property and privacy frameworks. His research projects include climate justice and intellectual property; legal frameworks for collaborative innovation (such as patent pledges and pools); intellectual property in preferential trade agreements; entrepreneurship; and the strategic management and commercialization of intellectual property assets.
Prof. Awad holds a PhD and LLM in Law from the University of Montpellier and the Sorbonne University in France and completed his postdoctoral research at the Faculty of Law at Western University. He has taught and worked in both common and civil law jurisdictions and has led research projects for international and regional organizations across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Canada. He is a member of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP) and serves on the editorial committees of several academic journals.
At Western Law, Prof. Awad teaches Intellectual Property Law, International Intellectual Property, and Law and Disruptive Technologies. He has developed and delivered numerous distance learning and professional training programs for global audiences.
