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Enhancing Innovation in the Ugandan Agri-Food Sector: Robusta Coffee Planting Material & Tropical Fruit Processing
Economic Research Working Paper No. 42
Uganda's innovation performance in recent years has consistently outpaced other low-income and Sub-Saharan African countries. Though encouraging, this nascent progress will only benefit the broader Ugandan population if policy makers address specific constraints in the innovation systems of the critical agri-food sector, which is hampered by low productivity and profitability. In this report, we explore these constraints using an agricultural value chains framework with particular focus on the Robusta Coffee Planting Material Pipeline and tropical fruit processing.
Publication year: 2018
WIPO Magazine, Issue 2/2018 (April)
The WIPO Magazine explores intellectual property, creativity and innovation in action across the world.
Celebrating 20 years of IP Education and Training - The WIPO Academy Year in Review 2017
This report introduces the work of the Academy, highlights our achievements in 2017 and shines a light on some of the Academy's achievements in the past 20 years.
The Global Publishing Industry in 2016
A Pilot Survey by the IPA and WIPO
The International Publishers Association (IPA) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) joined forces to pilot a new survey of global publishing activity in 2016. The survey covered three market segments: retail; educational; and scholarly, academic and scientific (SAS) publishing. In total, 35 national publishers associations and copyright authorities responded to the survey.
WIPO GREEN
Connecting sustainable technology users and providers
WIPO GREEN is a global marketplace that promotes green tech innovation and diffusion. This short brochure outlines the benefits of joining WIPO GREEN in order to collaborate on projects and events, leverage its global network, increase visibility and join the fight against climate change.
WIPO GREEN - Year in Review 2017
Another successful and productive year for WIPO GREEN! This Year in Review report summarizes WIPO GREEN highlights and achievements as the network expanded both in membership, collaborations and events.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 1/2018 (February)
WIPO IP Facts and Figures 2017
An overview of intellectual property activity based on the latest available year of complete statistics.
Guide to WIPO Mediation
Mediation has proved very successful in achieving a result beneficial to both sides to a dispute. This booklet provides a straightforward introduction to mediation, based on the extensive experience of the WIPO Center. It describes the main features and advantages of mediation and explains how mediation under the WIPO Mediation Rules works in practice, with case examples.
BVGH Partnership Hub Report - Annual Report 2017
WIPO Magazine, Issue 6/2017 (December)
Publication year: 2017
Documenting Traditional Knowledge – A Toolkit
There is growing interest in documenting the wealth of traditional knowledge (TK) that has been developed by indigenous peoples and local communities around the world. But documenting TK can raise important issues, especially as regards intellectual property. This Toolkit presents a range of easy-to-use checklists and other resources to help ensure that anyone considering a documentation project can address those issues effectively.
World Intellectual Property Indicators - 2017
An authoritative annual survey of IP activity around the globe. As well as filing, registration and maintenance of patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms and plant variety protection, the 2017 edition also covers geographical indications for the first time, making it even more comprehensive. A special section on the operational performance of patent offices takes an in-depth look at application processing times, examination capacity and examination outcomes.
Joining the International Copyright System: What's At Stake?
This booklet introduces the copyright treaties administered by WIPO, identifies some of the potential benefits they offer, and outlines the steps that countries need to take in order to join the international copyright system.
Intangible assets and transactions within multinational enterprises: implications for national economic accounts
Economic Research Working Paper No. 38
Transactions involving intangible assets within multinational enterprises impose challenges for national economic accountants. In light of the challenges, recent research at the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis aims to identify areas for improving the treatment of multinational enterprises in national economic accounts. This paper summarizes the work and demonstrates implications for gross domestic product – the most widely cited measure in national economic accounts – of the United States.
A missing link in the analysis of global value chains: cross-border flows of intangible assets, taxation and related measurement implications
Economic Research Working Paper No. 37
Understanding cross-border flows of disembodied knowledge, often associated with intellectual property (IP), is essential to analyzing how modern economies operate. This paper documents how available data to document these IP flows are distorted by various factors, including tax planning by multinational enterprises. It finds that tax-induced mismeasurement could be more than 35%, and greater for individual countries particularly high-tax-rate countries.
Measuring the income to intangibles in goods production: a global value chain approach
Economic Research Working Paper No. 36
Today's production processes are fragmented across countries and industries. Intangibles play an important role, but their measurement is elusive. This paper proposes a new empirical framework to measure factor incomes in production that spans industries and countries.
World Intellectual Property Report 2017 – Intangible Capital in Global Value Chains
The World Intellectual Property Report 2017 examines the crucial role of intangibles such as technology, design and branding in international manufacturing. Macroeconomic analysis is complemented by case studies of the global value chains for three products – coffee, photovoltaic energy cells and smartphones – to give an insightful picture of the importance of intellectual property and other intangibles in modern production.
Understanding the dynamics of global value chains for solar photovoltaic technologies
Economic Research Working Paper No. 40
China dominates the global solar photovoltaic (PV) value chain, while 15 years ago the demand and supply were located in few Western economies. In this process, the PV industry has seen a booming demand, drastic price decreases along the supply chain, and fierce competition among surviving companies. This paper seeks to understand how this spatial shift has occurred and its drivers, with a specific focus on the role of intangible assets and intellectual property.
Intangible assets and value capture in global value chains: the smartphone industry
Economic Research Working Paper No. 41
This report uses data on individual smart phones as well as industry data to identify which smartphone firms capture the most value. It finds that Apple captures most of the industry profits, thanks to its high prices, large profit margins and the volume of iPhone sales worldwide. Apple's success is explained as a result of its ability to develop its own intellectual property (IP) and take advantage of IP created by suppliers through a strategy of selling only a few models at high prices compared to competitors.
The powerful role of intangibles in the coffee value chain
Economic Research Working Paper No. 39
The paper describes: a) the coffee industry and its GVC structure; b) the role that intangible assets play in value creation from both the supply and demand perspective; and c) the current and potential role of intellectual property tools in creating and retaining value, as well as providing economic upgrade options.
Vaccines: Accelerating Innovation and Access
Global Challenges Report
This Global Challenges Report describes the innovation process for vaccines. It explains how the restricted availability of vaccines is due to impediments at every stage of the process. Most of these obstacles are manageable, and intellectual property (IP) rights are associated with only some of them. The analysis aims to put into perspective debates around health innovation and the availability of health technologies in developing countries, especially with respect to the role of IP. In particular, it provides an overview of how IP has been used to meet global health challenges in the vaccines field, and considers whether lessons can be drawn to inform other important health technologies.
Global Design Database
The free global search engine for designs
This brochure outlines the options for searching industrial design documents in WIPO's Global Design Database.
Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review 2017 - Executive Summary
The International Patent System
This document provides the key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). This edition provides a summary of the statistics reported in the PCT Yearly Review 2017.
Hague Yearly Review 2017 - Executive Summary
International Registration of Industrial Designs
This executive brief identifies key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs.
Madrid Yearly Review 2017 - Executive Summary
International Registration of Marks
This document provides the key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Madrid System. This edition provides a summary of the statistics reported in the Madrid Yearly Review 2017.
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Multidrug Resistance (MDR): Overview of current approaches, consortia and intellectual property issues
Based on a review of recent literature, this WIPO Global Challenges Report includes a broad overview of current approaches and consortia designed to meet the challenge of research and development (R&D) investment for new treatments. It also examines patent applications by both the public and the private sectors as an indicator of innovative activity.
Using IP for development
Success stories from around the world
Intellectual property is a powerful tool for development. This booklet shows how governments, businesses and non-profit organizations all around the world are using different types of IP strategically to boost economic, social and cultural progress.
Making a Mark: An Introduction to Trademarks for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Distinctive signs enable a company to distinguish its products and services from those of other companies. Trademarks provide protection for these signs allowing companies to create visibility and build their brand image. This guide explains the trademark system and the importance of trademark management.
Report of the Director General to the 2017 WIPO Assemblies
This report is a presentation of the work accomplished by the Organization during the year that has passed since the last meeting of the WIPO Assemblies.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 5/2017 (October)
Guide to the International Patent Classification (2017)
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PATENTSCOPE
The free global search engine for technology information
This brochure outlines the features of PATENTSCOPE and its options for multilingual search across tens of millions of patent documents.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 4/2017 (August)
Ideas production and international knowledge spillovers: digging deeper into emerging countries
Economic Research Working Paper No. 35
Research and development (R&D) activities of emerging countries (EMEs) have increased considerably in recent years. How important are knowledge transfers from developed countries and other emerging countries? This wide-ranging but rigorous macro-level study of 31 EMEs provides some much-needed evidence.
Sharing Knowledge, Building Capacity - The WIPO Academy Year in Review 2016
This report introduces the work of the Academy and highlights our achievements in 2016.
Hague Yearly Review - International Registrations of Industrial Designs - 2017
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international registration of industrial designs.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 3/2017 (June)
WHO, WIPO, WTO Joint Technical Symposium on Antimicrobial Resistance: How to Foster Innovation, Access and Appropriate Use of Antibiotics?
Summary of the Key Issues
The World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Joint Technical Symposia provide a platform for participants to exchange information and experiences and to discuss current issues. The sixth Joint Technical Symposium, held in Geneva on October 25, 2016, reviewed issues related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review - 2017
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international patent system. Special theme: how applicants time their international patent filings
Protect and Promote Your Culture
A Practical Guide to Intellectual Property for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
Intellectual property can be a powerful tool for indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs). Used strategically, it can help you promote your own products and services, and prevent the misappropriation of your traditional knowledge and culture. This short guide explains how, with plenty of examples, IPLCs around the world have made the most of intellectual property rights.
Global Innovation Index 2017
Innovation Feeding the World
The Global Innovation Index provides detailed metrics about the innovation performance of 127 countries and economies around the world. Its 81 indicators explore a broad vision of innovation, including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication. This year's report reviews the state of innovation in agriculture and food systems across sectors and geographies. Chapters of the report provide more details on this year's theme from academic, business, and particular country perspectives from leading experts and decision makers.
International Survey on Text and Image Copyright Levies
2016 Edition
The third ‘International Survey of Text and Image Copyright Levies', jointly published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Federation of Reprographic Rights Organizations (IFRRO) builds on and updates the first two surveys published in 2014 and 2015, and analyzes the origins, scope and current use of these levies around the world, and their role in ensuring easy legal access to copyright material. The Survey also shows how and why text and image (TI) levies are different from audio and audio-visual private copying levies. As with the first two surveys, it uses data from IFRRO members, collated and presented by Paul Greenwood, a consultant, with the assistance of representatives of IFRRO members and the IFRRO Secretariat. The methodology and scope are unchanged.
Identifying and ranking the world's largest clusters of inventive activity
Economic Research Working Paper No. 34
This paper presents an empirical approach to identifying and ranking the world's largest clusters of inventive activity on the basis of patent filings. Patent data offer rich information on the locality of innovative activity. Many researchers have already made use of these data to study individual clusters or selected clusters within a particular region. Our approach goes beyond existing work by identifying and ranking innovation clusters on an internationally comparable basis.
WIPO Re:Search Strategic Plan 2017–2021
WIPO Re:Search has come a long way over the past five years since its inception. Initially, it was intended to demonstrate that IP could help facilitate innovation in health and catalyze new research and development. This demonstration has been achieved. Based on the recommendations of an external strategic review of WIPO Re:Search, this Strategic Plan, developed in a collaborative manner with all WIPO Re:Search Members, charts the way forward based on several principles: the positive value of IP; the need for a proactive partnering mechanism; a long-term perspective of potential contribution to product development; the importance of capacity building for IP management and for research; the importance of mobilizing additional resources for partnering and for collaborations; and the value of broader understanding of IP, research and WIPO Re:Search itself.
Madrid System e-Services - Madrid Monitor
Quick-Start Guide
Use Madrid Monitor to track the status of your international application or registration, access detailed information on all trademarks registered through the Madrid System, and keep an eye on competitor's marks.
Madrid System e-Services - Member Profiles Database
Whether you're preparing an international application or managing your existing portfolio of trademark registrations, the Member Profiles Database gives you free access to the practices and procedures of Madrid System members across the globe.
International Survey on Private Copying - Law and Practice 2016
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Dutch collecting society for private copying remunerations, Stichting de Thuiskopie, are pleased to present the fourth joint publication on the law and practice of private copying systems around the world. The survey provides a global view of private copying compensation (also known as private copying levies), an important element of copyright and related rights infrastructure. It aims to facilitate evidence-based decision-making and to provide an update on important developments in the private copying law and practice of countries that have such an exception in their legal arsenals.
Madrid System e-Services
The tools you need to protect your trademark. Globally.
An overview of Madrid System online tools and resources available to support trademark owners at each stage of the international trademark registration lifecycle (search, file, monitor and manage). Contains descriptions of each tool, including when and why to use it and a list of key benefits and features.
Madrid Yearly Review 2017
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international registration of marks.
Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) Report 2016
This Annual Report highlights key trends and milestones of the TISC program since its launch in 2009, with a focus on the main achievements and developments in 2016.
Developing Together
South-South and triangular cooperation within WIPO
Read our flyer to get a quick overview of South-South cooperation and WIPO's work in the area.
WIPO GREEN - Year in Review 2016
A year of solid growth for WIPO GREEN as it pushes forward in its quest to become the go-to platform for green technologies.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 2/2017 (April)
Your Own World of IP
Intellectual property is everywhere! This colorful little booklet introduces the main types of IP, with plenty of interesting facts and examples. It is designed to appeal in particular to adolescents and young people.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 1/2017 (February)
How to Make a Living in the Creative Industries
This booklet explains simply and clearly how copyright helps creative people to earn money from their original works. It is designed for people who may already work in the cultural and creative industries, or who may be contemplating a career in them, as well as for individual creators, policy makers, academics, and business support agencies working in the field. It is accessible to non-specialists or newcomers to the subject of copyright and intellectual property rights.
WIPO Consumer Survey Toolkit on Respect for IP
The WIPO Consumer Survey Toolkit on Respect for IP is intended for use by public- and private-sector bodies wanting to measure consumer attitudes towards pirate and counterfeit goods. The creation of the Survey Toolkit was made possible by Funds-in-Trust provided by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea.
Supporting Industrial Property for Shared Prosperity
The Japan Funds-in-Trust for Industrial Property in Asia and the Pacific
This booklet introduces the work and highlights some of the many success stories of the Japan Funds-in-Trust for Industrial Property in Asia and the Pacific, a collaboration between Japan and WIPO.
WIPO IP Facts and Figures 2016
WIPO - Making IP Work
WIPO is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. We are a self-funding, specialized agency of the United Nations, dedicated to making IP work for innovation and creativity. At WIPO we believe that IP and innovation go hand-in-hand. IP is about rewarding people for their ideas and original creations. It is about encouraging businesses to invest in innovations and new solutions. It is a means of enabling innovation and creativity for the benefit of all.
Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI)
The Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI) program is coordinated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) together with its partners in the publishing industry with the aim to increase the availability of scientific and technical information in developing countries.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 6/2016 (December)
Publication year: 2016
Patent Landscape Report on Palm Oil Production and Waste Treatment Technologies
This report provides an overview of the global patent landscape in the area of palm oil production and waste exploitation, and includes national patent applications from Malaysia. It covers patenting activity related to technologies in production of palm oil and palm kernel oil, and treatment of waste from palm oil production.
World Intellectual Property Indicators - 2016
A comprehensive picture of IP activity around the world based on statistics from national and regional IP offices, WIPO and the World Bank. Covers filing, registration and renewals data for patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms and plant variety protection. Also includes an analysis of participation by women inventors in international patenting.
Identifying the gender of PCT inventors
Economic Research Working Paper No. 33
This paper analyzes the gender of inventors in international patent applications. We compile a worldwide gender-name dictionary, which includes 6.2 million names for 182 different countries to disambiguate the gender of PCT inventors. Our results suggest that there is a gender imbalance in PCT applications, but the proportion of women inventors is improving over time. We also find that the rates of women participation differ substantially across countries, technological fields and sectors.
Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration
The aim of the Agreement is to provide for the protection of appellations of origin, i.e., the "geographical denomination of a country, region, or locality, which serves to designate a product originating therein, the quality or characteristics of which are due exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment, including natural and human factors" (Article 2).
Madrid Yearly Review 2016
WIPO Magazine, Issue 5/2016 (October)
Report of the Director General to the 2016 WIPO Assemblies
Hague Yearly Review - International Registrations of Industrial Designs - 2016
Guide to the International Patent Classification (2016)
WIPO Magazine, Issue 4/2016 (August)
Sharing Innovation and Building Capacity to Fight Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Selection of WIPO Re:Search Fellowship Stories
An overview of issues relevant to debates about solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, public health and food security.
Global Innovation Index 2016
Winning with Global Innovation
The Global Innovation Index ranks the innovation performance of 128 countries and economies around the world, based on 82 indicators. This edition explores the impact of innovation-oriented policies on economic growth and development. High-income and developing countries alike are seeking innovation-driven growth through different strategies. Some countries are successfully improving their innovation capacity, while others still struggle.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 3/2016 (June)
Resolving IP and Technology Disputes Through WIPO ADR
Getting back to business
Although an IP dispute can be resolved through court litigation, parties are, with increasing frequency, submitting disputes to mediation, arbitration or other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures.
Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review - 2016
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international patent system. Special Theme: the PCT market share
R&D, Scale Effects and Spillovers: New Insights from Emerging Countries
Economic Research Working Paper No. 32
There has been a concomitant rise in R&D and the rate of economic growth in emerging countries. Analyzing a panel of 31 emerging countries, we find convincing evidence of scale effects which make government policies potent for long-run growth. This contrasts sharply with the well-known findings of Jones (1995a). Innovations show increasing returns to knowledge stock, implying that the diminishing returns assumed by some semi-endogenous growth models might not be generalized. International R&D spillovers raise the innovation bar. The observed growth rates of emerging economies appear in transition therefore their growth rates may recede with the passage of time.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 2/2016 (April)
Patent Landscape Report on Microalgae-Related Technologies
This report aims to provide patent based information on available technologies and patenting trends in the area of microalgae. It covers in detail patent applications and granted patents within the space of microalgae and has revealed several interesting facets of research and innovation related to that area. Expected to be the 3rd generation biofuels solution, microalgae have quickly been developed for the biofuel industry with a marked inflection point in 2006. Lipids and pigments, which are the second metabolites of interest, also developed early on, still continue to see a steady growth in recent years.
An Introduction to the Economics of Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights
Collective Management as a Business Strategy for Creators
An introduction to the economic theory surrounding collective management of copyright
Neighboring Rights
Collective Management Organizations – Tool Kit
This WIPO toolkit offers a practical approach to the collective management of copyright and related rights.
Musical Works and Audio-Visual Works
Integrating Intellectual Property into Innovation Policy Formulation in Jamaica
Part of a series of WIPO-produced country reports, reviewing IP in national innovation systems. Each report offers country-specific recommendations for more effectively using the IP system to strengthen national innovation systems.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 1/2016 (February)
Measuring Creativity: Learning from Innovation Measurement
Economic Research Working Paper No. 31
There is a growing interest in broadening the measurement scope of innovation and considering “creative” activities, meaning that the usual indicators of innovation satisfy neither scholars nor policy makers. Conceptually, there is not much difference between innovative and creative activity: but to what extent are current measures that capture innovation relevant for creativity? Can the new measures for creativity benefit from the experience accumulated through R&D and innovation? Our article provides insights and lessons learned from using measures of innovative activities for scholars who are interested in capturing creative activities. We underscore the difficulties faced when measuring innovation and draw some parallels of these difficulties with the efforts undertaken to measure creativity.
WIPO IP Facts and Figures 2015
International Survey on Private Copying - Law and Practice 2015
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Dutch collecting society for private copying remunerations, Stichting de Thuiskopie, are pleased to present the third joint publication on the law and practice of private copying systems around the world. The survey provides a global view of private copying compensation (also known as private copying levies), an important element of copyright and related rights infrastructure. It aims to facilitate evidence-based decision-making and to provide an update on important developments in the private copying law and practice of countries that have such an exception in their legal arsenals.
WIPO Magazine, Special issue 11/2016
WIPO Match - Leveraging IP for Development
WIPO Match is a database and networking tool that puts organizations seeking to use intellectual property (IP) to develop their countries in touch with donors who can help them.
Methodology for the Development of National Intellectual Property Strategies - Toolkit - Tool 3: Benchmarking Indicators
A companion handbook to the Baseline Questionnaire designed to support the collection of baseline survey data, providing an in-depth analysis explaining the benchmarking indicators used in the assessment of the national lP system.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 6/2015 (December)
Publication year: 2015
World Intellectual Property Indicators - 2015
This annual publication provides a wide range of indicators covering the following areas of intellectual property: patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms and plant variety protection. It draws on data from national and regional IP offices, WIPO and the World Bank.
Breakthrough technologies – Robotics, innovation and intellectual property
Economic Research Working Paper No. 30
Robotics technology and the increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence are breakthrough innovations with significant growth prospects and the potential to disrupt existing economic and social facets of everyday life. Few studies have analyzed the developments of robotics innovation. This paper closes this gap by analyzing how innovation in robotics is taking place, how it diffuses, and what role intellectual property plays.
Economic growth and breakthrough innovations: A case study of nanotechnology
Economic Research Working Paper No. 29
This paper examines the role of intellectual property and other innovation incentives in the development of one field of breakthrough innovation: nanotechnology. Because nanotechnology is an enabling technology across a wide range of fields, the nanotechnology innovation ecosystem appears to be a microcosm of the global innovation ecosystem. Part I describes the nature of nanotechnology and its economic contribution, Part II explores the nanotechnology innovation ecosystem, and Part III focuses on the role of IP systems in the development of nanotechnology.
3D printing and the intellectual property system
Economic Research Working Paper No. 28
Three-dimensional (3D) printing – or “additive manufacturing” – technologies differ from traditional molding and casting manufacturing processes in that they build 3D objects by successively creating layers of material on top of each other. Rooted in manufacturing research of the 1980s, 3D printing has evolved into a broad set of technologies that could fundamentally alter production processes in a wide set of technology areas. This report investigates, from the perspective of an intellectual property scholar, how 3D printing technology has developed over the last few decades, how intellectual property rights have shaped this breakthrough innovation and how 3D printing technologies could challenge the intellectual property rights system in the future.
Breakthrough technologies – Semiconductor, innovation and intellectual property
Economic Research Working Paper No. 27
Semiconductor technology is at the origin of today's digital economy. Its contribution to innovation, productivity and economic growth in the past four decades has been extensive. This paper analyzes how this breakthrough technology came about, how it diffused, and what role intellectual property played historically.
Intellectual property rights and pharmaceuticals: The case of antibiotics
Economic Research Working Paper No. 26
The development and diffusion of antibiotics contributed to large improvements in human health and living standards. The antibiotic revolution also spawned the modern pharmaceutical industry. This paper reviews the development of the early antibiotics, and the roles of intellectual property rights (in particular, patents) in their development and diffusion.
Breakthrough innovations in aircraft and the intellectual property system, 1900-1975
Economic Research Working Paper No. 25
Modern commercial aircraft are complex products that incorporate innovations in technologies ranging from advanced materials to software and electronics. Although commercial aircraft assuredly qualify as a transformative innovation, in fact today's commercial aircraft are the result of a process of incremental innovation and improvement that dates back more than a century. A great many of these improvements and incremental innovations originated from government-supported R&D programs sponsored by the military services or government research laboratories. The adoption of commercial-aircraft innovations within many industrial economies, including the United States, also has been influenced by government regulation of air transportation. This paper provides a historical characterization of the innovation and record of technical progress in US commercial aircraft during the 1900-1975 period. It identifies the sources of support for innovation and technological adoption, and examines the origins and impacts of “breakthrough innovations” on the overall evolution of the global commercial aircraft industry. The paper also assesses the role of patents in these important innovations.