Daren Tang Appointed for Second Term as WIPO Director General

Geneva, April 21, 2026
PR/2026/951

The Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today appointed Daren Tang to a second six-year term of office as Director General of the Organization.

Mr. Tang’s appointment by the General Assembly, WIPO’s highest governing body, followed his nomination by the WIPO Coordination Committee in February.

I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence the Member States have placed in me for a second mandate as Director General of WIPO. In my first term, I worked with Member States to transform IP from a technical and legal matter into a business, economic and financial asset that helps drive innovation and creativity, and serves as a catalyst for jobs, investments, growth and development for all countries, while ensuring that WIPO is a place where Member States can find consensus and win together.

For the second term, this work will continue, so that WIPO’s IP systems are efficient and effective in serving users, global IP standards continue being updated to meet the needs of innovators and creators in a fast changing world driven by AI, IP continues to be protected and used by millions around the world and harnessed to address global challenges, and IP moves from the periphery to the center of all countries as they embrace IP to grow, develop and prosper.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang

• Mr. Tang’s curriculum vitae

Mr. Tang is the fifth Director General of WIPO, following Mr. Francis Gurry of Australia (2008-2020), Mr. Kamil Idris of Sudan (1997-2008), Mr. Arpad Bogsch of the United States (1973-1997) and Mr. Georg Bodenhausen of the Netherlands (1970-1973).

The process of electing a Director General is governed by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization and the procedures governing the nomination and appointment of Directors General of WIPO.