WIPO

The Green Technology Book was launched by WIPO at the recent COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. This resource presents a range of innovative green technologies that provide solutions to some of the ever-pressing climate change dangers. The solutions are organized in relation to three sectors, which are the focus of the book: agriculture and forestry, the water sector, and cities. Over 200 technologies are presented alongside information about how they can help climate change adaptation. The premise of the book is that while technologies cannot solve climate change on their own, they can make an important contribution.

For more detail see here: WIPO Green Technology Book

WIPO has released the 2022 Global Innovation Index with Switzerland once again placing first, for a 12th year in a row. The United States has climbed to take second position and the United Kingdom has stayed in fourth, the same as in 2021. Even though there was an expectation for a decrease in R&D after the COVID-19 pandemic, this has not been the case for many of the large corporate companies, with there being an almost 10% increase in R&D in 2021, reaching a figure of over $900 billion in 2021. Some countries increased their R&D budget spending for 2021, such as Germany, while other such as Japan and the United States didn’t. Intellectual Property filling also continued to increase in 2021 with a rise of 15%. Data was also found that 26 countries are outperforming their development with innovation, including countries such as India and Indonesia.

The Global Innovation Index predicts two new innovation waves to come, contradicting those who believe innovation driven growth is going to stay at a low. The Digital Age innovation wave and the Deep Science innovation wave are predicted to be the next two biggest breakthroughs in innovation, but it is well accepted that these will take time. The Digital Age innovation wave would focus on automation and artificial intelligence, while the Deep Science innovation wave is thought to look at bio- and nanotechnologies which would revolutionise science.

Click here to read the full report.

Inclusive innovation ecosystems are a priority for Innovation Council. It is for this reason that we have collaborated with WIPO and Invent Together on preparing these high-level policy panels that will take place on May 31 and June 1.

The event will focus on the importance of designing policies addressing the IP gender gap and engaging women’s participation in the innovation ecosystems of the European region.

Click here for online registration.

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. 

Every April 26, the global IP community marks World Intellectual Property Day to celebrate the role that intellectual property (IP) rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity. This year the theme of World Intellectual Property Day is “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future” and celebrates youth-led ingenuity.

Across the globe, young people are stepping up to meet innovation challenges, using their energy and ingenuity, curiosity, and creativity to steer a course towards a better future. Knowledge about how to secure and manage intellectual property rights can accelerate their efforts. Therefore, Innovation Council has created an infographic featuring IP training programs dedicated to the innovators of the future.

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.

There was a time when inventors did not have to worry about protecting intellectual property outside their country, largely because products were typically conceived, manufactured and purchased within a circumscribed territory. However, the rise of globalization has changed this. Now, a product produced in one corner of the globe can easily be sold and manufactured all over the world. This new economy presents challenges for patent applicants and/or inventors, one of them being how to ensure that an invention is protected in countries that have easy access to your product or process. The solution lies in filing a patent application in any market-target country — expanding your rights there and making it difficult for competitors to use your products or technology without due authorization.

Read more.

A range of intellectual property-related indicators showed great resilience despite the economic shock from the COVID-19 pandemic. In opening the WIPO Assemblies, WIPO Director General Daren Tang highlighted the need for WIPO to evolve, to mirror this trend toward the increasing centrality of human innovation and creativity as principal drivers of economic growth.

Read the full story.

This series of virtual events will take a look at the IP gender gap in the Americas region. Political leaders, heads of IP offices, economists, and scholars will discuss how best to attract underrepresented groups to use the patent system, what data needs to be collected in order to understand the gap, and how to interpret new and existing data in order to develop solutions that will help close the gap.

The High-Level Policy panel will take place on 13 October, 5:30-6:30pm CET // 11:30am-12:30pm EDT // 8:30-9:30am PDT.

The IP Economist panel will take place on 14 October, 5-7pm CET // 11am-1pm EDT // 8-10am PDT.

Read the full story and register.