WIPO Director General Daren Tang visited the United States (US) from September 8-12, 2025 where he met with members of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) in San Diego, California as well as other members of the US intellectual property (IP) community. In Washington, DC, he held a series of meetings with US stakeholders.
In his keynote speech at the IPO annual conference, Mr. Tang highlighted the areas where the US leads and continues to lead as an innovation powerhouse. The San Diego innovation cluster stands out as one of the strongest in the US, ranking as the 14th largest globally in 2025 and seventh in terms of innovation intensity relative to its population, which can serve as an inspiration to other urban areas building innovation ecosystems.
Other US Engagements:
- Visited Qualcomm, the largest US user of WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system, where discussions included the possibility of working with Qualcomm to support start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises around the world.
- Visited the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and held discussions with Chancellor Pradeep Khosla and Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Corinne Peek-Asa.
- Visited UCSD’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization team to learn about the university’s multidisciplinary approach to institutional innovation strategies, entrepreneurship, IP commercialization and startup support.
- Toured the UCSD Design and Innovation Building, meeting with a biotech founder as well as the Dean of the School for Computing, Information and Data Sciences Rajesh Gupta.
- Engaged with local San Diego companies that are using IP to protect and grow their businesses and creations in sectors ranging from guitar design and manufacturing to wireless technologies.
- Met with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC and members to follow-up on progress made under a memorandum of understanding signed in May and identified new opportunities for collaboration.
- Met with Mr. Gene Quinn and the team at IPWatchdog to discuss how to push the importance of IP around the world, and to record a podcast.