Category Innovation/ R&D

In 2012: Are Biotech, Ethics And Biodiversity Friends or Foes?

With food demand and prices rising as the world crosses the threshold of 7 billion people, the need to find new medicines, concerns about the shrinking biodiversity and the effects of climate change may designate biotechnologies as the main response. Opinions differ on the way to address those issues, in particular about intellectual property rights attached to biotechnologies.

Legislative questions are being discussed on both sides of the Atlantic around the scope of patentability, and intellectual property rights on plants, seeds, molecules or methods, as well as exemptions that some think should be applied. The year ahead will see some decisions that might impact the biotechnology industry both in the United States and in Europe.

WHO, Gates, Industry And NGO Leaders Elevate Attention To Neglected Diseases

A range of some of the world’s top public and private partners in public health today announced an “unprecedented” level of cooperation to fight diseases primarily afflicting poorest populations worldwide for which there is insufficient research and development and inadequate health systems. But how the initiative will tie in with governments’ efforts at the World Health Organization to craft a global framework to address these issues remains to be seen.

Officials, Industry Discuss IPR In Relation To Economy And Society

Two top international organisations in Geneva are working to adapt to trends in global intellectual property systems with an eye toward contributing to a positive economic impact, officials told a private sector conference this week. But they heard a complex message about the role of IP in addressing public policy concerns.

Subscriber Alert: WHO Board Considers Key Reform Paper

The World Health Organization Executive Board today is being asked to approve a draft chair's summary of this week's Board discussions on the path to sweeping reform of the UN agency. But the document is unusual, according to some observers, in that it addresses major changes without being considered a negotiation or decision. [Update: this draft was approved by the Board with only the change of deadline for comments to 17 February.]

EU Innovation Commissioner Presents Horizon 2020

The European Union Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science today introduced the US policy community to Horizon 2020, the large-scale new multi-year research and innovation funding programme the EU is preparing to undertake.

Record Patent Filings At EPO

Despite the economic situation, the European Patent Office saw record patent filings in 2011 and maintained its share globally, it reported today.

WHO Board Considers Reform, Director Re-Election, Key IP-Related Issues

The UN World Health Organization Executive Board opened its annual January meeting today with a substantive agenda of reform, election, and a variety of issues that touch on intellectual property rights, research and development and innovation. And with the organization in reform and funding straits in a rapidly changing world, the director general stressed the agency’s steadfast approach and role in addressing the increasing global inequality between rich and poor.