4iP News

Alessandro Burro wins 4iP Council Research Award for his paper on the implications of 3D printing on IP and IP law

30 January 2020

Fostering student interest in, and validating new ideas on, key topics related to the interplay between IP and innovation.


4iP Council is pleased to announce that Alessandro Burro, candidate at Bocconi University's LL.M. in Law of Internet Technology, has won is the 4iP Council Research Award 2019 for his paper Pirates of the 3D Realm: strategies for IP protection from the widespread adoption of additive manufacturing by consumers.

Alessandro will receive a cash prize of €2000 from 4iP Council. His paper is available on the 4iP Council website and will be promoted widely through 4iP Council channels.

“Additive manufacturing is, in my opinion, one of the main pillars of the 4th Industrial Revolution. When the masses start to adopt this disruptive technology in their everyday lives, we will face a piracy crisis like the one suffered by the movie and music industries back in the ‘2000s. Only this time, it will be more widespread as most of the consumer products of today will be involved in it. Therefore, I wanted to explore the implications of such disruptive technology on intellectual property and I wanted to try to find a solution to this problem before the start of the crisis,” said Alessandro Burro.

“Intellectual property is core to innovation. We hope these awards will provide visibility and encouragement for European university research in this field. Alessandro has written a fascinating overview of how a transformational new technology can rock the state of play in intellectual property,” said Axel Ferrazzini, Managing Director, 4iP Council.

The 4iP Council Research Award is an international research competition for European university students studying at Masters and PhD levels that aims to foster student interest in, and validate new ideas on, key topics related to the interplay between IP and innovation.