On 19 November 2025, an IP4OS webinar featured Richard Gold, an expert in intellectual property and innovation management. Gold presented how Open Science (OS) can work alongside IP rather than against it, using IP strategically to enable collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation. He emphasised that projects should tailor formal and informal IP mechanisms to their specific goals.

The session highlighted the importance of governance design, with examples like the CACHE project showing how well-structured governance ensures openness remains sustainable and trustworthy. Gold also outlined the competitive advantages of openness, including faster innovation, greater transparency, stronger public-private collaboration, and strategic protection of key assets.

During the Q&A, participants discussed practical IP management in OS contexts, balancing commercial and academic interests, and implementing adaptive governance frameworks.

The webinar concluded by underscoring the value of integrating Open Science and strategic IP management to strengthen Europe’s innovation ecosystem, showing that openness and protection can work together to drive impactful and responsible research.