Dr Nigel Clarke specialised in physical chemistry, (with mathematics and physics) His PhD was in neutron science. He  started work in the UK Scientific Civil Service and researched novel laser-based analytical techniques. He joined the European Patent Office as patent examiner and was subsequently; IT project manager, international cooperation project manager, and market researcher. He is currently head of unit and responsible for the EPO's online information services including Espacenet. Nigel has wide experience of interfacing between research scientists and the IP world. Lately he has been involved with the SLING EU Bioinformatics initiative, and graphene research and commercialisation.