Innovation goes green with the support of Intellectual Property

ON April 26, the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the international community observed the ninth annual World Intellectual Property Day to raise international awareness about the importance of intellectual property to our well being.

This year’s theme, ‘Promoting Green Innovation’, emphasises the importance of intellectual property (IP) to advancing the development of green technologies and eco-friendly products that support a healthy environment and promote sustainable agricultural and economic development. Creative individuals and industries continue to generate solutions to some of the most difficult problems that face the world today.Intellectual property protections help foster environments in which creativity and innovation can thrive and contribute to economic development and improved quality of life around the world. By encouraging enforcement of trade rules, including intellectual property protection, we can support innovative industries, create new jobs and solve global challenges. Recently, Brazil has undergone a Green Revolution, dramatically increasing agricultural production.Investment in research, technology transfer, and the use of new technologies has been essential to this success. For example, a soybean variety breeding initiative with the United States helped Brazil become a major soybean producer.TANZANIANew technology allowed farmers to minimise the turning of the soil before planting a new crop, decreasing erosion.Crucial to the development of these new technologies is the intellectual property protection provided in both Brazil and the United States.Through the UN Development Programme’s Transformation of Rural Photovoltaic Market Project in Tanzania, local entrepreneurs are helping bring affordable solar energy systems to rural areas.In one example, Zara Solar Ltd sold 3 600 stand-alone systems, helping supply electricity for lighting, mobile phone charging and electricity to 18 000 people.Despite the strong benefits that these solar technology systems bring to health centres, schools, businesses and individual households, low quality imitation products sold at small electric shops threaten to hurt their reputation.Zara Solar is working to educate consumers about the importance of purchasing legitimate systems so that the authentic brand name products are not discarded due to false perceptions that they are low quality.Innovation is at the heart of civilisation.The pursuit of new knowledge is at the centre of human spirit and is what led Thomas Edison to invent and develop technologies like the light bulb.The US IP system allowed others to build upon Edison’s work by granting him patent protection that allowed him to reap financial benefit for his significant contribution to society.We must ask ourselves: Who are the Thomas Edisons of today? Where are they? And, how do we ensure that IP protections are in place to encourage their innovative spirit and support the safe and secure distribution of technologies to those who desperately need them?In his inaugural speech, US President Barack Obama reminded us that ‘our minds are no less inventive’ and ‘our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year’.As we work to address global challenges such as the current international economic crisis, climate change and clean energy, we must redouble our efforts to encourage and protect intellectual property rights and foster a robust environment for global innovation.* Dennise Mathieu is the US Ambassador to Namibia