Inclusive Innovation Ecosystems
It is widely recognized that innovation will be required to address the pressing challenges facing societies today. Success is more likely when all available talent and experience can be leveraged. A wide range of actors must be able to participate in innovation ecosystems. Intellectual property rights help to make this happen. IP rights such as patents allow technology and know-how to be shared and traded. They enable innovators without a significant in-house R&D capacity to access and use technology, and to integrate that technology into their value chains. Innovators of all types and sizes benefit from access to these business tools. Certain innovators – such as SMEs and minority inventors – will require support to secure protection for and effectively manage their IP. Innovation Council supports initiatives to broaden participation in innovation ecosystems.
World IP Day 2021: IP & SMEs: Taking your ideas to market
World Intellectual Property Day 2021 shines a light on the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the economy and how they can use intellectual property (IP) rights to build stronger, more competitive and resilient businesses. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has developed interactive materials to learn more about IP and its use for SMEs.
Closing the Gender Gap in Intellectual Property (IP)
Jennifer Brant, Executive Director of Innovation Council, Co-author of “Policy Approaches to Close the Intellectual Property Gender Gap – Practices to Support Access to the Intellectual Property System for Female Innovators, Creators and Entrepreneurs”, spoke in a sharing session on “Women and IP” organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Enhancing Intellectual Property Management and Appropriation by Innovative SMEs
This one-pager by the Innovation Council explains the importance of sound IP management for SMEs, including complementary and hybrid strategies and recommendations for governments. To read more about innovative SMEs, click through the Innovation Council gallery for World IP Day 2021 here.
What the future may hold: Patent analyst Kavitha Andoji aims to turn big ideas into big things
Inventions have always been part of life for Kavitha Andoji. It started in her childhood in Hyderabad, India: she began inventing new things to save her family time and money, a habit with led her to later pursue a career focused on scientific exploration. Today, she is one of the top intellectual property experts at GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions, where she has analyzed more than 50,000 patents for the company and holds six of her own. After an excursion to Germany, where she learned how to use Embedded VC++ to write embedded software (a specialized form of programming used for devices that are not personal computers, such as cars and appliances), she returned to India and joined GE as a software technical leader in one of the company’s digital energy teams, working in geographic information systems (GIS) mapping.
Acceleration Project 2021: Finding Ways to Valorize Palm Oil Waste in Indonesia
WIPO GREEN launched its Acceleration Project 2021, targeting a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the South-East Asian region: palm oil. In collaboration with Winrock International – a US-based environmental NGO with established expertise in sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia – WIPO GREEN aims to make green technology solutions for Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) treatment and valorization readily available to palm oil mills.
The Ella Project: Creating Female Role Models
The Ella Project was designed to create female role models and heroines with whom girls can identify. Importantly, all of these role models have a passion for science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and entrepreneurship. The Ella Project collects the various stories of these remarkable women in one place, and allows the women themselves to share with girls their inspiration, their views and reflections on their success, and their advice for future leaders.
Launch of New “Horizon IP Scan” Support Service for SMEs
The European Commission recently launched a service called the “Horizon Intellectual Property Scan.” This tailored, first-line, free-of-charge IP support service is specifically designed to help European start-ups and other SMEs to efficiently manage—and derive value from—IP that they create in collaborative research and innovation efforts, especially those that are connected with EU-funded Horizon 2020/Europe projects. Building on a vast network of experienced, local IP experts, covering all EU Member States and Horizon 2020/Europe associated countries, the Horizon IP Scan team provides individual, professional, jargon-free assessments of SMEs’ intangible assets.
Save our SMEs
Save our SMEs was started in order to respond to the severe economic impacts that Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and their workforces are facing—in both developed and developing economies—as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. MSMEs comprise an estimated 80 percent of employment in many countries, and collectively employ billions of people.
They are, indeed, the backbone of the global economy, and are fundamental to the day-to-day provision of goods and services around the world. However, recent reports indicate that many MSMEs do not have enough working capital to last even thirty days in the midst of the Covid crisis, and many have already closed their doors. Action is needed from governments, private sector leaders and international institutions to ensure the continued viability of our MSMEs.
International Women’s Day: Actions to help women entrepreneurs
This infographic from the Innovation Council highlights five strategies to address the gender gap in IP and encourage innovation. Among the strategies identified are better data collection, projects to connect girls and women to IP, and targeted programs to encourage women to pursue careers in IP law.