Michael Kock has been working in the field of plant-related innovation, technology transfer, and intellectual property for more than 20 years. As the head of IP for multinational companies and a member of several seed industry IP committees of industry associations, he gained extensive international strategic and operational experience to create, defend, enforce, and leverage plant-related IP rights. He currently works as a consultant and assists companies to design holistic IP, freedom-to-operate, and value capture strategies. As a qualified European and Swiss patent attorney, he regularly lectures on IP and has published multiple papers on plant IP topics in peer-reviewed law journals.