54 / SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2018 Canada. Then, for the same variety, they might be interested in using the information from this first application to make a second application in a neighboring country, the United States. Much of the information contained in the original application will be automatically copied into the second application — easy and efficient. If this same variety has potential in Africa or Asia, again, the application can be copied to make new applications. Farmers in these other territories would be pleased to have access to these new varieties. Simply put, UPOV PRISMA simpli- fies the application process for breeders and helps to make their best varieties more widely available. The multilingual functionality is also a major breakthrough. The interface can be displayed in a choice of languages (French, English, Spanish, German, Chinese and Japanese). This would help, for instance, an American breeder to display the questions in English when completing an application for a soybean vari- ety in Chile. The tool will then automatically translate much of the application (especially in the technical questionnaire, where breeders need to complete information in relation to the variety and describe its main characteristics) into Spanish, which is the language in which the application must be submitted to in Chile. The tool provides the flexibility to fit the needs of each breeder. For instance, if you need to have a large number of people from the same company accessing the system or one specific pending application, you can assign different roles in the tool according to the responsibility of each member of the team. In smaller companies, you can perform the full process, from the creation of the breeder account to the completion of the applica- tion form, and from the application submission to online pay- WHERE ON THE WEB Visit UPOV PRISMA at www.upov.int/upovprisma to see how to get started, and the UPOV PRISMA Team remains at your disposal to guide you through the process and reply to your questions (prisma@upov.int). ment. Last but not least, the tool allows breeders to monitor and track their PBR-submitted applications around the world. SW: What are the next steps in its implementation? BR: The UPOV PRISMA team continuously looks for new fea- tures that will improve the quality of the tool and address users’ needs in terms of access to information or new ways of working. For instance, we are investigating: novelty alerts; alerts on appli- cation deadlines; information on next steps after the submission of application data; access to a list of local accredited agents and procedural representatives; information on distinctness, uniform- ity and stability cooperation; more participating UPOV members; how to cover all crops and species for all participating UPOV members; and more PVP offices with machine-to-machine links to UPOV PRISMA, where relevant. SW: What advice do you have for plant breeders? BR: Go online and test the tool. Make the most of this year’s spe- cial offer in which UPOV PRISMA is free of charge. It’s a unique opportunity to see how efficient and relevant UPOV PRISMA can be for you and your company. Use the system and see how it can help save time and create new business opportunities. Ultimately, it is the seed industry as a whole, and the farmers who get access to the newly released varieties, that will benefit from this important new development. SW