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World Intellectual Property Day
April 26, 2008
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Technology transfer from developed to developing countries, and increasingly between developing countries, will therefore be needed on what the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) describes as an unprecedented scale. A major, ongoing focus of the UN discussions is how best to make this happen. Strategies include funding mechanisms, capacity-building, international collaborative research networks, public-private partnerships, and using multilateral and bilateral trade cooperation agreements to create incentives.
What's IP got to do with it?
The intellectual property (IP) rights system makes no distinction between environmentally friendly and other technologies. IP contributes to the development and diffusion of new technologies for combating climate change much as it does in any other innovative technology field: it encourages innovation by providing the means to generate a commercial return on investment in the development of low carbon technologies (particularly as demand builds when the market is primed by appropriate policies); it gives companies the confidence to license their proprietary technologies for use or further development where they are most needed. Patent information can also make a valuable contribution. Published patent documents offer a vast, freely accessible source of technological information on which others may build. The development of hydrogen fuel cells as a renewable energy source is just one example of how new innovation grew from research results contained in earlier patent information (WIPO Magazine issue no. 1/2007). Patent "landscaping" can also be used, for example, to chart the pace and direction of innovation in alternative energy technologies and identify future directions.
As efforts are made to accelerate the transfer of affordable climate-friendly technologies to developing countries, there will need to be on-going scrutiny in order to ensure that IP is working effectively to facilitate this process, and to address any problem areas. Such scrutiny is already underway, with groups, such as the Third World Network, expressing concern that patents on the new technologies may be keeping prices too high and restricting access by developing countries. A recent European Parliament report included a proposal to look into the feasibility of amending the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in order to allow for the compulsory licensing of "environmentally necessary" technologies. Other analyses, however, such as the detailed case studies compiled by the Climate Technology Initiative, the International Energy Agency and the United Nations Environment Programme, conclude that one of the most significant impediments to the successful transfer of climate-friendly technologies is the lack of IP rights protection in some developing countries.
These questions are explored further in this edition of WIPO Magazine in an article by Professor John Barton, which examines the impact of patents in the transfer of renewable energy technologies to Brazil, China and India. We also talk to the inventor of a new environmentally-friendly construction material about his innovation and his IP strategy. Other articles in our series will illustrate how WIPO is helping developing countries to build capacity in technology licensing skills; to foster collaborative research and development; and to create enabling environments for innovation and technology transfer. - Small steps on the steep road to meeting the technology challenge.
By Elizabeth March, WIPO Magazine Editorial Team, Communications and Public Outreach Division. |
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Climate Change - The Technology Challenge
This article sets the scene for WIPO Magazine's new series on the challenge to find technological solutions to climate change. The series will look at examples of climate-friendly innovation
Read More >> |
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