Based at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law, Technology and Society and Faculty of Law, Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) is Canada’s first and only public interest technology law clinic and gather a team of legal experts and law students to advance the public interest on critical law and technology issues.
Joining the University of Ottawa as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section and a Faculty member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, Dr. Bassem Awad, brings extensive expertise in intellectual property, technology law, innovation policies, and data governance. As the new Director of CIPPIC, Dr. Bassem Awad will help advance the clinic’s work on pressing legal and policy challenges shaping the digital landscape, further strengthening the clinic and the Centre’s leadership in technology law and policy in Canada and internationally.
Dr. Awad joins the University of Ottawa from Western University’s Faculty of Law, where he served as Director of the Area of Concentration in Intellectual Property, Information and Technology Law and as the founding Director of the Western Intellectual Property and Innovation Legal Clinic (WIPILC). He combined legal scholarship, policy development, and experiential education to advance access to knowledge, innovation governance, and public interest engagement in technology law. Under his leadership, WIPILC has trained 79 law students in intellectual property and related technology law and has supported more than a hundred of clients across Southwestern Ontario.
Dr. Awad's internationally recognized research and policy work examines the governance of innovation systems, with particular interests in artificial intelligence and collaborative innovation, privacy and data governance, intellectual property and digital entrepreneurship, patents and access to medicines, as well as climate justice and green technology innovation.
Dr. Awad has led and contributed to several large -scale interdisciplinary research initiatives funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including Destination Horizon, Insight, and Partnership grants. A member of the Open African Innovation Research Network (Open AIR), he has contributed to numerous collaborative research and policy initiatives. He regularly collaborates with governments, international and regional organizations, as well as academic institutions on legal and policy questions relating to intellectual property, innovation strategies, and technology governance.
A former Judge at the Courts of Appeal in Egypt and Abu Dhabi and a government consultant, Dr. 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 has also been a Visiting Professor at the Academy of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva since 2010 and has designed and delivered technical assistance, and knowledge transfer programs for policymakers, judges, diplomats and trade officials, and industry stakeholders across Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Canada.
As CIPPIC enters its next chapter, Dr. Awad's leadership will help strengthen the clinic's role in advancing public interest technology law, training the next generation of technology lawyers, and contributing to national and international debates on the governance of emerging technologies.
Welcome Dr. Awad !