Aaron Smethurst

director of IP policy, UCB

Aaron Smethurst is the director of intellectual property (IP) policy at UCB. In this role he is responsible for ensuring internal IP best practices and policies deliver patient and stakeholder value, and for communicating UCB’s IP policy positions to external stakeholders.

 

Prior to joining UCB, Aaron developed an extensive network and policy acumen through various international and IP policy advocacy positions, including at: AbbVie, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CropLife International, Eli Lilly, and the office of U.S. Trade Representative.

 

Aaron holds a MS Degree in Business/Government Relations with a specialization in Intellectual Property Management and an honors certificate in International Business Diplomacy from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

 

Aaron lived in Washington, DC for over a decade and recently moved with his family to Brussels. Previously he spent six years living outside the United States—four years in Germany, including working in the German Bundestag in Berlin, and two years in Japan teaching English on the JET Program. Along the way, he has acquired varying levels of proficiency in German, Japanese, and French.