Sumati Parikh is chief IP and Digital Counsel for Smiths Group companies. Smiths is a group of technology companies driven by innovation and Mrs Parikh with her team support the whole innovation and product lifecycle on IP and digital legal issues. This includes IP strategy, collaborations and strategic partnerships, IP protection and portfolio management and digital monetization. She was called to the Bar in India and practised as an Advocate and Patent Attorney there before qualifying as a Solicitor in England over 20 years ago. Mrs Parikh worked in private practice at Allen & Overy and at Wragge & Co (now Gowling WLG) before joining Telefonica/ O2 as Group IP Counsel and then Smiths where she now heads up the global IP function. She has worked extensively with technology companies both during her in-house and private practice career.