How is innovation being internationalised? How important are intellectual property rights for development? How well are these rights managed in developing countries?
These were the questions driving the 7th annual conference on Micro Evidence on Innovation and Development (MEIDE), Santiago de Chile, 7-8 November 2013, which focused on intellectual property rights (IPR) policy in developing countries. Among the topics covered, two major sessions were devoted to the internationalisation of innovation on the one hand and to innovation and productivity in services on the other.
Three keynote lectures were given on and around these topics. Dr. Bruce Lehman from the International Intellectual Property Institute in Washington DC summed up the history of IPR in the USA and shared insights on patents and other innovation opportunities in developing countries. Prof. Brian Wright from the University of California at Berkeley and Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, presented the state of IPR in the People’s Republic of China. Dr. Benjamin Mitra-Kahn, Chief Economist at the Australian Patent Office, delivered a presentation entitled “Intellectual Property Rights: Not Everything that Glitters is Gold”.
Most of the conference was held at the University Adolfo Ibañez, overlooking Santiago, and at the Chilean National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI). Besides the keynote lectures there were 16 parallel sessions on topics ranging from IPR issues to productivity and innovation in services, innovation and various measures of economic performance, program evaluations, firm dynamics, entrepreneurship, and social capital to name just a few. In total there were some 50 presentations, attended by 103 people from 26 countries.
The event was sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, INAPI, Nucleo Milenio INTELIS, the Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and, as usual, UNU-MERIT, and featured on Chilean national TV.
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Images: Rodolfo Lauterbach, Flickr / V.San Martin