Each year, 26 April, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) marks World IP Day. The day helps showcase how intellectual property inspires innovation and creativity — yet recent research gives another perspective. For example, how TRIPs type agreements may be stifling ‘development by imitation’ and thus holding back the Global South. Dr. Neil Foster-McGregor shares his thoughts ahead of World IP day. Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are supposed to encourage inno...
The challenges faced by rural communities — and the actors who engage with them — change over time. Therefore we need to regularly adapt our ideas on the role, meaning and dynamics of “rural innovation”. The dynamics of rural innovation in the early 21st century derive, on the one hand, from the challenges that farmers and agriculture face in view of their ever-changing social and natural environment. On the other hand, changes occur within institutions such as NGOs, agri...