Ms. Edlyn Simmons – IPI Award Recipient 2005

(Source – PIUG Discussion List; IPI-Institute Discussion List; March 2005)

Ms. Edlyn Simmons, Section Manager for Patent Information in the Intellectual Property and Business Information Services Department at Proctor & Gamble in the U.S., is being honored as the recipient of the International Patent Information IPI-Award 2005.

The news was heard by over 300 information professionals attending the recent International Patent Information Conference & Exposition, IPI-ConfEx 2005, in Benalmadena, Southern Spain on March 8th.

Presiding over the event were members of the IPI-Award Selection Board, an international body responsible for reviewing the nominations.  As Master of Ceremonies, the proceedings were commenced by Mr. Ford Khorsandian, who is also the founder of the Award.  The other Board members present were Mr. Roland Herberger, Mr. Koh Ishii, Dr. Ursula Schoch-Gruebler, Ms. Lucy Teixeira Akers, and Ms. Julie Watters.  Those not able to be present, but who sent their best wishes, were Dr. Sandra Unger, Dr. Richard Kurt, Mr. Yutaka Wada and IPI-Award Board Chairman, Dr. Ian Sinclair.

Following an introduction by Trudi Jones on behalf of Award sponsors Technology & Patent Research (TPR) International, the name of the recipient for 2005 was jointly announced by Dr. Ursula Schoch-Gruebler (herself an IPI-Award recipient in 2003) and Ms. Lucy Teixeira Akers.  Both praised the achievements of Ms. Simmons, stating that: "She has been a tireless lobbyist and advocate on behalf of patent information professionals everywhere, liaising with vendors to ensure viable, higher quality services and new products (notably Markush systems), with better features and benefits for our profession."  The audience enthusiastically greeted the announcement with applause and was delighted to hear the comments of Ms. Edlyn Simmons herself via a live telephone link-up from her Ohio home in the United States.

Mr. Roland Herberger and Ms. Julie Watters shared some biographical highlights of Ms. Simmons' impressive career and her many achievements as a leading educator and advisor in the field of patent information.

Mr. Koh Ishii congratulated Ms. Simmons on behalf of the Selection Board and the conference attendees.  Ms. Simmons addressed the IPI-ConfEx audience, saying:  "I'm thrilled to be honored with the IPI-Award by my friends and colleagues in the patent information profession.  My career has given me an opportunity to learn from others in the field and to share what I've learned with patent information professionals around the world by writing and presenting at conferences.  Through patent information, I've traveled and made friends around the world.  Receiving the IPI-Award is like the icing on the cake."

Mr. David Dickens (Questel Orbit) and Mr. Michael Blackman (World Patent Information Journal, Elsevier) joined those on stage to offer their congratulations and invite Ms. Simmons to share some anecdotes from her career. 

Click here for a full transcript of the announcement made at the International Patent Information Conference & Exposition, IPI-ConfEx 2005, including remarks from Ms. Simmons.

Click here for a full transcript of Edlyn Simmons’ speech as presented at the May 25th, 2005 IPI-Award Ceremony.

Click here for Photo Gallery of the IPI-Award 2005 Presentation Ceremony held May 25th 2005.

A Leading Educator for the Patent Information Profession:

Edlyn Simmons gained both a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.

From an early career in Chemistry, she transitioned into patents whilst at Merrell National Laboratories.  There she became a Patent Agent and served the company as patent information manager for many years under the banners of Marion Merrell Dow and Hoechst Marion Roussel.  She moved to Procter & Gamble in 1999, continuing her career in patent information management.

Perhaps one of Ms. Simmons' most significant contributions is the role that she has played in co-founding the Patent Information Users Group, the PIUG.  The PIUG has grown to be a major force in patent information and its existence is largely due to the efforts of Edlyn Simmons in particular and a handful of other farsighted individuals who, in 1987, saw the need for such an organization and took steps to make it a reality.  Ms. Simmons has served as Chair of the PIUG from 1990-1992 and Director-at-Large from 2000-2004.  She is serving another term as Director-at-Large until 2006.   

Over the years, Ms. Simmons has also played a major role as advisor and/or Board Member to various other associations and vendor organizations, including:

*  ACS Board-Council Committee on Chemical Abstracts Service

*  Derwent Subscriber Advisory Committee

*  Questel Orbit International Advisory Council

*  Pharmaceutical Educational & Research Institute

*  ACS National Chemical Information Symposia

*  ACS division of Chemistry and the Law

Ms. Simmons is well known within the patent information industry for her informative presentations and for her educational instruction and encouragement of others in their pursuit of careers in patent information.  Ms. Simmons has a string of publications to her credit.  Among these, she has made editorial contributions to two books: co-authoring with Dr. Stu Kaback the chapter on patent information in the 'Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology' (she is currently working on her own in updating the 5th edition), as well as authoring three editions of a chapter in the 'Manual of Online Search Strategies'.  In addition, she serves on the editorial advisory board for the highly-regarded 'World Patent Information' journal.

The nomination for Edlyn Simmons was put forward by Dr. Stu Kaback (formerly of ExxonMobil) and was seconded by Mr. Robert Massie (Chemical Abstracts), Ms. Nancy Lambert (ChevronTexaco), Ms. Bettina Voelk (BDV), Ms. Shirley Bailey-Wood (formerly of Derwent), Mr. David Dickens (Questel Orbit), Dr. Peter Rusch (consultant), and Dr. Ursula Schoch-Gruebler (BASF).

Anyone wishing to send a congratulatory message to Ms. Simmons may contact Trudi Jones, trudi@IPI-Institute.com , and the greeting will be forwarded

The presentation of the actual IPI-Award plaque to Ms. Simmons will take place at a ceremony to be held during the PIUG Annual Meeting, which takes place May 21-26 2005, at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, Arlington, VA.

Award Background and Philosophy

The International Patent Information (IPI) Award is sponsored by Technology & Patent Research (TPR) International Inc.  The IPI-Award selection process is presided over by a Board of eminent patent information industry professionals representing Europe, the United States and Japan.  The IPI-Award consists of a plaque and an honorarium of $3000.

Ford Khorsandian, President of TPR, explains: "The International Patent Information Award has been established to pay tribute to one individual each year who, through their career as a dedicated patent information professional, has made a significant positive impact on patent information.  It is intended to highlight the patent information profession in general and how the profession is valued by others.  The Award is made on an international level and has been set up to represent the pinnacle of achievement in the patent information profession.  Now marking five years since its inception, the IPI-Award Hall of Fame is an impressive who's who in patent information.  We celebrate these pioneers and learn from their experiences."

From its base in San Diego, California, TPR International specializes in in-depth searching of both patent and non-patent information through online databases, manual searching of document collections worldwide, and provides patent intelligence services to multi-national R&D based corporations and patent law firms.  For more information, visit http://www.TPRInternational.com

For further information on the IPI-Award, or the specialist patent information conference and exposition, IPI-ConfEx (http://www.IPI-ConfEx.com), which takes place in Europe every March, contact: Trudi Jones, Trudi@IPI-Institute.com or searches@TPRInternational.com, +1(858)592 9084.  

Use ‘back’ key to go to previous page