Meeting of the UPOV Technical Committee, focusing on new technologies in the field of plant variety protection

Delegates from UPOV’s 80 member organisations, along with observers representing governments, international organisations and industry stakeholders, met at the end of October 2025 to discuss key developments and future directions in the protection of new plant varieties. This year, the Technical Committee meeting focused on how new technologies are transforming plant variety protection. During this highlight, GEVES gave a highly appreciated presentation on the use of new technologies in DUS testing, sharing its experience in genotyping and digital phenotyping. Through digitisation, new technologies and enhanced cooperation in examination, the UPOV community is demonstrating its intention to improve the efficiency of the application for examination and the examination itself, making the process simpler and potentially faster.

Among the topics usually addressed, the Technical Committee received reports on the progress of the technical working groups, including that of the Working Group on Fruit Species, reported by our colleague from GEVES in her capacity as Chair of that group. Finally, several guidelines, harmonised documents for conducting DUS testing, which are central to the UPOV system and the work carried out by the technical groups, were proposed for adoption.