Conference on Building Partnerships for Mobilizing Resources for IP and Development

World Intellectual Property Organization headquarters

Geneva, November 5 and 6, 2009

Background

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host an international Conference on Building Partnerships for Mobilizing Resources for IP and Development on November 5 and 6, 2009, at its headquarters in Geneva. This follows the decision by WIPO Member States in 2008 to convene a conference that would address Recommendation 2 of the WIPO Development Agenda:

Provide additional assistance to WIPO through donor funding, and establish Trust-Funds or other voluntary funds within WIPO specifically for LDCs, while continuing to accord high priority to finance activities in Africa through budgetary and extra-budgetary resources, to promote, inter alia, the legal, commercial, cultural, and economic exploitation of intellectual property in these countries.

The WIPO Development Agenda and the adoption in September 2007 by WIPO Member States of the 45 Development Agenda Recommendations place development at the heart of the Organization’s work and their implementation is given priority and mainstreamed across all its activities. The overall aim of the Conference is to support developing countries, with a particular focus on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Africa, to access resources to promote the legal, commercial and economic exploitation of intellectual property in these countries.

The Conference will provide practical examples which show the development impact that can be achieved through the integration and use of IP in national development plans and in the context of the UN Development Assistance Framework and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers.

The three main IP-related thematic areas the Conference will focus on are:

• Aid for Trade
• Science, Technology and Innovation for Development
• The Digital Divide

The Conference will seek to develop partnerships and support for developing countries by building on existing support from IP Offices, as well as forging new partnerships with development agencies and the donor community, and by identifying ways in which this work might be supported by charitable foundations and through public-private partnerships.

General Information

The Conference will be held in Room A, World Intellectual Property Organization headquarters.

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

Target Participants

• Representatives of WIPO Member States, Paris Union and/or Berne Union, as well as Member States of the United Nations and its specialized agencies;
• Representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations with observer status in WIPO;
• The development community, in particular the bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, charitable foundations and organizations involved in public private partnerships

Program/Presentations

• Final program in English, French, Spanish
• Provisionnal programs in Arabic, Chinese and Russian are also available.

Registration

Online Registration