Dr. Bassem Awad is an Associate Professor in the Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. Professor Awad is the Director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), and holder of the Samuel-Glushko Professorship of Law. His scholarship, teaching and policy engagement focus on the intersection of intellectual property, technology law, innovation policy, and data governance, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence and big data governance; intellectual property and digital entrepreneurship; patent and access to medicines; and climate justice and green technology innovation.
Prior to joining the University of Ottawa in July 2026, Professor Awad was a faculty member at Western University Faculty of Law, where he served as Director of the Area of Concentration in Intellectual Property, Information, and Technology Law. He founded the Western Intellectual Property and Innovation Legal Clinic (WIPILC) and served as its Faculty Director since its inauguration. His institutional leadership has combined legal scholarship, policy development, and experiential education to advance access to knowledge, innovation governance, and public interest engagement in technology law.
A former Judge at the Courts of Appeal in Egypt and Abu Dhabi and a government consultant, Professor Awad brings extensive international legal and policy expertise to his academic work. Since 2021, he has served as Chair and Coordinator of the Intellectual Property Taskforce at the African Scientific Research and Innovation Council (ASRIC) of the African Union, supporting policy development and capacity-building initiatives across the continent. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Academy of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva since 2010 and has advised governments, international organizations, and regional institutions on intellectual property strategies, technical assistance, and knowledge transfer for policymakers, diplomats and trade officials, and industry stakeholders across Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Canada.
Prior to joining Western Law, Professor Awad served as Deputy Director for Intellectual Property Law and Innovation at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), where he led research and policy initiatives on intellectual property, technology governance, and innovation policy.
Professor Awad has led and contributed to several large-scale interdisciplinary research projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including Destination Horizon, Insight, and Partnership grants, and most recently the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF – Transformation stream). He is also a member of the Research Caucus of Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) network and a Faculty member at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa.
Professor Awad’s primary research interests focus on the governance of intellectual property and innovation, including the implications of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data on intellectual property norms and privacy laws. His research projects span climate justice and intellectual property, digital entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, patents and access to medicines, collaborative innovation frameworks such as patent pledges and patent pools, intellectual property in preferential trade agreements, and the strategic management and commercialization of intellectual property assets.
Professor Awad holds a Ph.D. and LL.M. in Intellectual Property Law and Information Technology from the University of Montpellier (France), an LL.M. in International Business Law from Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and completed postdoctoral research at Western University Faculty of Law. He regularly collaborates with governments, international organizations, and academic institutions on legal and policy questions relating to intellectual property, innovation strategies, and technology governance.
Professor Awad is fully bilingual and teaches, publishes, and supervises graduate students in both English and French. He has taught courses in Canadian and international intellectual property, disruptive technologies and the Law, intellectual property strategy and commercialisation, and property law. He has also developed and delivered distance learning and professional training programs for governments, international and regional organizations, and academic institutions across multiple jurisdictions.