WIPO Magazine, Issue 1/2022 (March)
The WIPO Magazine explores intellectual property, creativity and innovation in action across the world.
Publication year: 2022
Madrid Yearly Review 2022
International Registration of Marks
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international registration of marks.
Publication year: 2022
Hague Yearly Review 2022
International Registration of Industrial Designs
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international registration of industrial designs.
Publication year: 2022
Guide to the Madrid System International Registration of Marks under the Madrid Protocol
This Guide is primarily intended for applicants for, and holders of, international registrations of marks, as well as officials of the competent administrations of the members of the Madrid Union. It covers the various steps of the international registration procedure and explains the essential provisions of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Regulations under the Protocol.
Publication year: 2022
Directing innovation towards a low-carbon future
Economic Research Working Paper No. 72
Achieving the ambition of limiting global warming to 1.5°C to 2°C by the end of the century as enacted in the Paris Climate Agreement will require massive investments in environmental technologies and a forceful change of path away from high-carbon technologies. This report presents novel descriptive evidence on global trends in patenting in low-carbon technologies, with a particular focus on the energy and road transport sector. The analysis discusses the role of public policies in driving the rate and the direction of innovation for a low-carbon future.
Publication year: 2022
Innovations in the exploration of outer space
Economic Research Working Paper No. 71
Human exploration of outer space has stimulated multiple innovations from both government and private sources. The decision to invest vast sums of money over a short period of time for the moon programs of the 1960s radically increased the level of innovation. Accomplishing this required new forms of energy for launch and space operations, reductions in the weight of components, and advanced computational capabilities, among many other technological improvements. The organization and management of bringing all of the components together was also essential. This report discusses economic aspects and overall benefits of those innovations as they fit into the prior and continuing push for advanced space capabilities.
Publication year: 2022
Second World War and the direction of medical innovation
Economic Research Working Paper No. 70
This paper provides an overview of the role of the United States of America (U.S.) Second World War research effort on the direction of innovation, with a particular focus on medical research. It provides an overview of the U.S. wartime research program, reviews quantitative evidence on the effects of the overall wartime research shock on postwar patenting, describes the wartime medical research effort, and summarizes case studies of five major wartime medical research programs (penicillin, antimalarials, vaccines, blood substitutes, and hormones) and their effects on postwar R&D. It concludes by drawing out implications for crisis innovation and the direction of innovation in general, discussing mechanisms through which crises may have long-run effects, and highlighting hypotheses warranting further investigation.
Publication year: 2022
Direction of innovation in developing countries and its driving forces
Economic Research Working Paper No. 69
Innovation is a major driving force of long-term economic growth and sustainable development. Direction of innovation matters because technical change is not neutral and hence bears significant social, economic and environmental development implications. This paper contributes to the literature through a systematic examination of the direction of innovation in developing and emerging economies and its driving forces. It shows that innovation in the global South exhibits a vibrant and diverse landscape when we do not confine ourselves with traditional research and innovation indicators. While emerging economies are accelerating their pace in inventive activities in fields such as ICTs, biotech and engineering, low-income countries (LICs) are also found to be active in learning-based, incremental “under-the-radar innovations” (URIs). These URIs that are introduced through international technology transfer and indigenous innovative efforts. Indigenous sources of URIs play a primary role in LICs, contributed by localised learning-by-doing, close interaction with customers and embeddedness in regional production networks and clusters. However, insufficient role of the state, a low science and technology intensity and a lack of university-industry linkage limit the potential of URIs. International technology transfer is another important driver of technical change in developing countries. However, its strengthen varies across countries due to differences in host country policy, absorptive capacity, and the type of foreign economic engagement that they have as well as the inappropriateness of transferred foreign technologies mostly from Global North. Given the status of direction of innovation and its driving forces in developing countries, this report argues that the unfolding 4th industrial revolution poses both challenges and opportunities to LICs. Policy implications are discussed.
Publication year: 2022
Calculating private and social returns to COVID-19 vaccine innovation
Economic Research Working Paper No. 68
What is the return to COVID-19 vaccine innovation? This paper seeks to quantify both private and social returns, using available data on commercialized vaccines and certain assumptions about the pandemic's epidemiological path as well as the economic costs of containment measures. The calculations reveal high returns to innovation. In the baseline scenario, the social benefit of vaccine innovation amounts to 70.5 trillion United States (U.S.) dollars globally, exceeding its private benefit by a factor of 887. The calculations bear on the private and public incentives to invest in vaccine innovation.
Publication year: 2022
Guide to the International Patent Classification (2022)
This Guide provides information on the objectives, history and reform of the International Patent Classification (IPC) as well as assistance in the use of the IPC.
Publication year: 2022