The European Patent Office (EPO) is an international authority set up on the basis of the European Convention to grant European patents using a unitary and centralised procedure for 38 states.

Nowhere is the debate about patents more heated than in the computer software field. Opinions about patenting range from the need to support technological progress at all costs at one end of the spectrum to categorical opposition to patents and a belief that software should be an open resource at the other end.

Want to know more about the European Patent Office's practice on software patents? Put your questions to our experts.

APC by Schneider Electric, a global leader in critical power and cooling services, provides industry leading product, software and systems for home, office, data center and factory floor applications. Through its unparalleled commitment to innovation, APC provides pioneering, energy efficient solutions for critical technology and industrial applications, that are well planned, flawlessly installed and maintained throughout their lifecycle. APC solutions include uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), precision cooling units, racks, physical security and design and management software, including APC's InfraStruxure® architecture, the industry’s most comprehensive integrated power, cooling, and management solution.

For more information on APC, please visit www.apc.com/au.

Dialog IT

Griffith University

IBM is a global technology and innovation company that stands for progress. With operations in over 170 countries, IBMers around the world invent and integrate hardware, software and services to help forward-thinking enterprises, institutions and people everywhere succeed in building a smarter planet.

With a 78 year history in Australia, IBM has been applying its expertise, global scope and creativity to help Australia compete in the global digital economy. We also lead the market in exporting $A592 million of software, services and human capital to the Asia Pacific region.

By working with major government departments, large Australian companies and equipping a legion of entrepreneurs, IBM makes a significant contribution to the Australian economy. Each year, IBM creates high value jobs by investing in research and development both in metropolitan and regional Australia. In 2009, IBM Australia Limited generated revenues of $A4.17 billion, and a profit of $240 million.

Widely recognised as an employer of choice, IBM holds numerous awards for its industry-leading employment practices and policies.

Charles Sturt University

Queensland Government

The ICT Centre is CSIRO's hub for innovative information and communication technologies. These technologies are applied across the breadth of CSIRO’s engagement with industry and society to address Australia’s national priorities in such areas as water, energy, mining, health and service industries.

Our core purpose is to be recognised as an ICT innovator on a global scale and Australia’s leading ICT research partner. We aim to achieve this by delivering productivity gains to industries, technology for the public good and wealth for the nation.

EzeScan provides fast, cost effective business solutions including simplified back scanning, automation of invoice processing, forms data extraction, mailroom/correspondence automation and highly integrated EDRMS imaging. EzeScan has over 500 installations in Australasia, USA, Canada and the UK and is compatible with all major scanners including Canon. EzeScan is your ideal batch-scanning solution. For more information visit www.ezescan.com.au.

Greythorn is an award winning specialist IT and Telecommunications recruitment consultancy with offices in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore within Asia Pacific.

Greythorn’s clients range from small owner-managed businesses to major multinational companies and large federal government bodies. Greythorn Australia was has won "Australia's Favourite Large IT Recruiter" at the Seek SARA awards 4 times, including 2009 - and more than any other IT recruitment company.

Greythorn is a key member of the FiveTen Group (www.fivetengroup.com)

NICTA is Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence, answering the hard questions in ICT research. NICTA drives innovation through high-quality research, research training and commercialisation and R&D services. Over 600 researchers carry out use-inspired basic research in a number of laboratories across Australia. Specialised teams focus their research within the following business areas: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Intelligent Transport Systems, Safety and Security, Environmental Management, Software Infrastructure and Mobile Systems and Services.

Riverbed is the IT performance company. The Riverbed family of WAN optimisation solutions liberates businesses by increasing application acceleration, enabling IT consolidation, and providing enterprise-wide network and application visibility – all while eliminating the need to increase bandwidth, storage or servers.

Thousands of companies trust Riverbed to deliver greater productivity and cost savings by making their IT infrastructure faster, less expensive and more responsive. Riverbed solutions are also available as managed services through select providers. For more information, visit www.riverbed.com.

The secau - Security Research Centre aims to provide a focus for the study and research of security related topics at Edith Cowan University. The centre conducts applied research across four key themes of Critical Infrastructure Security, Human Factor Security, Information Security and Digital Forensics.

Trusted by 100 million users and endorsed by industry analysts as a leader, Sophos provides a full range of endpoint, encryption, email, web and NAC solutions that are simple to deploy, manage and use. Our rigorous attention to quality has enabled us to maintain strong year-on-year growth and the highest levels of customer satisfaction in the industry.

The University of Queensland (UQ) is one of Australia's premier learning and research institutions. It is the oldest university in Queensland and has produced generations of graduates who have gone on to become leaders in all areas of society and industry. UQ’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering teaches and researches across the gamut of ICT activity, from engineering and hardware, to software and information management, to human-computer interaction and multimedia design.

TR Vidcom

Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

Science and technology are the engines of growth and wellbeing in modern society. QUT’s Faculty of Science and Technology combines teaching excellence and ground-breaking research with strong industry links and a global perspective to give you the opportunity to help us change the world.

Brisbane Marketing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brisbane City Council, is the city’s economic development agency and a key partner in driving Council’s Economic Development Plan and vision for the city. Brisbane Marketing connects with the Brisbane ICT industry through its Inward Investment Attraction division and the Brisbane Convention Bureau.

Digicor is a leading solution provider and distributor of high-performance, density- managed servers, storage systems, and professional workstations. Founded in 1997, Digicor has a unique experience and refined knowledge that allows us to select, design, build, implement, support and manage servers, storage, and HPC workstation solutions Australia and New Zealand wide.

Clearswift

Ensys Consulting

Loop Technology