Bringing together over 400 leaders from the intellectual property community around the world, the Congress focused on why so many people describe intellectual property as the pivotal business asset of the 21st century.

Building on that success, the next IP Business Congress, organised and hosted by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine, will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago between 21st and 23rd June 2009. No one who has an interest in high-level IP value creation strategy will want to miss this event, which will include the CIPO Summit and the IP Hall of Fame gala dinner. The event will honor the following inductees to the IP Hall of Fame:

Jane Ginsburg
A highly influential academic and teacher who has written some of the most important IP-related books of modern times.

Francis Gurry
The Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization and a key figure in the development of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre.

Dolores Hanna
The first female president of the International Trademark Association and a highly influential figure in the development of trademark law and practice across the world.

Michael Kirk
The former Executive Director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and an outstanding advocate for IP both in the US and internationally.

Niels Reimers
A former director of Stanford University's Office of Technology Licensing who developed the "marketing model", the predominant strategy used by US academic technology transfer enterprises.

The gala dinner will be one of the highlights of the IPBC 2009, which has brought together an impressive number of speakers, including:

Marshall Phelps, Corporate VP for IP Policy and Strategy, Microsoft
Ruud Peters, CEO, Philips IP & Standards
Carl Horton, Chief IP Counsel, GE
Scott Frank, President and CEO, AT&T Intellectual Property
Todd Dickinson, Executive Director, AIPLA
Ciarán McGinley, Head of the Controlling Office, European Patent Office
Beatrix de Russé, Executive VP of IP and Licensing, Thomson
Keith Bergelt, CEO, Open Invention Network
Sherry Knowles, Senior VP and Chief IP Counsel, GlaxoSmithKline
Marcella Watkins, Managing Counsel, IP, Shell Oil Company
Don Merino, General Manager Acquisitions, Intellectual Ventures
Damon Matteo, Chief IP Officer and VP IP, Palo Alto Research Center

Wrapping up the event on Tuesday, from 5:00 p.m., bloggers from the intellectual property community around the world will gather for Meet the Bloggers at the famous  Billy Goat Tavern. Peter Zura, Duncan Bucknell, and David Donoghue are among those expected to be there, as well as Joff Wild, the editor of IAM Magazine, who also blogs about Intellectual Asset Management for the magazine's online edition. Leave a note in the comments below, if you're planning to attend, and we'll update this post with new information.