Innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals

Innovators have a critical role to play in achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. They help to adapt and more broadly distribute existing products. They mobilize capital and investments for scaling proven solutions – and to develop entirely new ones. They apply and share their technology and know-how every day with partners globally. Companies in particular have the resources and scale to deliver broad global impact. Innovative partnerships involving the private sector are giving rise to creative ways of tackling global challenges in cost-effective, sustainable ways. Our members contribute to the SDGs through both their everyday activities and targeted initiatives. Through Innovation Council, they share information about what has worked, what worked less well, and their successes. They support diverse stakeholders in overcoming the remaining challenges to meet the SDG targets.

New ECA Publication to Spotlight Breakthroughs of African Female Scientists

A new publication ‘Earth, Oceans and Skies: Insights from selected, outstanding African women scientists’ by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will spotlight African female scientists whose contributions seek to address some of the most critical challenges of the UN’s Decade of Action leading up to the year 2030.

From exploring the depths of the ocean to studying the vastness of space, the publication features dozens of autobiographies of selected scientists including female doctors, engineers and scientists from Africa whose research and discoveries are helping to tackle complex global challenges.

Click here to read more.

View Post

International Gender Champions

The International Gender Champions (IGC) is a leadership network that brings together female & male decision-makers determined to break down gender barriers and make gender equality a working reality in their spheres of influence.

The network numbers over 250 active Champions and 160 Alumni who are the heads of International Organizations, Permanent Missions, and Civil Society Organizations.

Click here for their factsheet or go directly to their website.

View Post

Innovation Council to take part in WIPO, IFPMA World IP Day discussion

Innovation Council’s Jennifer Brant will join other stakeholders from the global IP community to discuss the challenges faced by young, female innovators in the health sector and to offer suggestions as to how the community can best support their endeavours. To participate, register here. 

View Post

Gender and IP Literature

Innovation Council has created a running list of resources on various issues related to Gender and IP, based on work by Morgan Schreur

Click here to see the reading list.

View Post

Slideshow: Measuring the Gender Gap in Innovation

Monitoring the share of women inventing, creating, and innovating is essential to develop appropriate policy responses to the innovation-related gender participation gap. Yet, several national and international innovation and IP data sources lack any type of gender breakdown.

This slideshow reviews the different ways to get innovation and IP data with gender breakdown.

View Post

Slideshow: Extending Bio-manufacturing Networks in Africa and IP and Covid

This slideshow presents key messages from the recent Innovation Council – Bobab online discussion about extending bio-manufacturing networks in emerging regions, notably Africa. The discussion on February 8th featured Prof. Mark Schultz of the University of Akron School of Law, Anissa Boumlic of Merck Life Science, and Simon Agwale of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative. Click here for the video of the event, and click here to review a transcript of the event.

Read the full story.

View Post

Quantum Computing takes off: A look at the evolution of Quantum Technology and Patents

In 1980, the idea of a quantum processing unit was proposed. Such a processing unit doesn’t use the 1s and 0s with which we’re familiar. That “classical” way of thinking is the way we think, with a 1 for true and a 0 for false, and combinations—for example, a “false positive.” Quantum computing is based on a “superposition” of states called “quantum bits” or “qubits” for short. But there’s a big difference between the way we think and the way nature behaves.

Read the full story.

View Post

Webinar on BioManufacturing: Expanding Production Capacity in Emerging Regions

The Innovation Council and Bobab organised a discussion on expanding BioManufacturing production capacity in emerging regions. Biologics, a category of pharmaceuticals which includes products such as vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments, are quickly becoming among the most important medical products in the world. By combining enabling government policies and technology transfer between innovators and their global partners, it will be possible to improve availability of biologics, increase health security, and enhance scientific and industrial capacity in developing countries.

Watch the webinar.

Information about speaker Anissa Boumlic is available here.

Information about speaker Mark Schultz is available here.

Information about speaker Simon Agwale is available here.

Information about AVMI is available here.

For more information on this discussion, click here to see the transcript.

View Post

Americans don’t have equal access to mental healthcare but technology is making it more democratic

One of the oldest, yet still unresolved issues plaguing the US health system is the unequal distribution of healthcare. This past August, a new study by JAMA revealed the ongoing disparity in healthcare spending by race. In particular, mental healthcare remains highly inaccessible across the board, but particularly for certain groups. Patients are screened for mental health in less than 5% of primary care visits, and Black people are half as likely to be examined than white people. And the elderly are also half as likely to be screened than middle-aged patients. However, novel health technologies are allowing us to move into a new era of equality and improved access to healthcare for everyone, eliminating the barriers between people and healthcare, by putting the patient at the center of care versus the provider.

Read the full story

View Post