Category Innovation/ R&D

WTO TRIPS Council Debates Competition Law, Plain Packaging’s Spread To Other Products

The World Trade Organization intellectual property committee met last week with lively discussions on the benefit of IP rights protection for new businesses, and on the role of competition law to prevent abuses of those rights and in particular ensure greater access to medicines. Also, considering the recent WTO Dispute Settlement Body ruling on the tobacco plain packaging, some countries warned against this decision becoming a precedent and spreading to other goods, and undermining trademark protection.

Intangible Capital Rising, IP Key For Start-Ups, Traditional Growth Model Has To Change, Panellists Say

The importance of intangible capital is growing and so is the significance of intellectual property, according to some, and in particular in the new economy. Start-ups see intellectual property as an indispensable tool to attract investors and put their innovations onto the market. Developing countries still mainly stuck in what some call the "commodity trap" have to identify and exploit their intellectual property assets, according to panellists at an event held at the World Trade Organization yesterday.

WTO TRIPS Council Agenda: IP Key For New Businesses, Competition Law To Counter Abuses

World Trade Organization intellectual property committee members gather this week for their annual autumn session. On the agenda are now-usual topics looking at intellectual property from two perspectives: IP as an indispensable tool for innovation in particular in the new economy, and IP as a potential threat to access if misused. In addition, India has put forward further questions on goods in transit to the European Union in its directive on custom enforcement of IP rights.

UAEM: In ‘Historic” Shift, Universities In Canada Adopt Licensing Promoting Access To Medicines

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) announced today that University of Calgary and McGill University are joining University of British Columbia in adopting Global Access Licensing Principles. These principles promote public access to publicly-funded medicines and life-saving health technologies developed in universities, according to a UAEM press release [pdf].

Investing In New Antibiotic Research: Difficult Equation Discussed At World Investment Forum

The diminishing arsenal of efficient antibiotics to fight bacteria is a threat denounced by many, but investment in research and development of new antibiotics is seen as lagging. As the danger of getting back to a pre-antibiotic age is increasing, alternative ways of financing new antibiotics are being discussed. At the World Investment Forum this week, a panel looked into innovative means of investment, and ways to attract private investors to this field.

WEF: US Most Competitive, But Idea Generation, Agility Will Shape Future Growth

The generation of ideas, entrepreneurial culture, openness, and agility - by companies, policymakers, and workers - to adapt quickly and embrace change and not resist it, are factors that will have the greatest impact in driving growth and competitiveness in the years ahead in a world increasingly transformed by new, digital technologies, a report by the World Economic Forum said.

World Health Summit Berlin: New Global Action Plan; Gates And Merkel To Open Global Challenges

BERLIN -- Ten years after establishing the Berlin World Health Summit, the M8 alliance of medical institutes around the globe sees some noticeable progress in political commitment to the health agenda. “Gifts” presented at the opening ceremony yesterday in the German capital include the announcement of German Health Minister Jens Spahn to establish a Hub for Global Health and step up its financial contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO) to 115 million euros over the next four years. The three-day summit also will receive a global action plan to catch up with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on health and well-being for all.