In 2024, the global Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) network grew significantly, expanding from 1,494 centers in 2023 to 1,667 centers across 93 countries. This expansion reflects the growing recognition of the value TISCs bring to innovation ecosystems, as demonstrated by a record 2.25 million inquiries from researchers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. The increase in intellectual property (IP) filings supported by TISCs further highlights their crucial role in helping innovators generate value from IP.
To support TISC coordinators in managing national projects more efficiently and enhancing operational effectiveness, the TISC Project and Performance Management Platform (TPPM) was optimized in 2024 and made available network-wide. The platform fosters collaboration between countries and WIPO, enabling real-time tracking of TISC projects globally. By offering timely insights, it ensures targeted assistance, capacity-building and support, allowing TISC networks to operate more efficiently and maximize their impact.
TISCs continued to expand the scope of their services to meet rising demand and further enhance innovation support, placing greater emphasis on areas such as technology transfer, IP commercialization and new product development. In 2024, several new tools and learning resources were introduced to help TISCs deliver high-quality, value-added services. Among these is a new game-based learning resource, “Patent Quest: Navigating Innovation Horizons,” developed in collaboration with the Norwegian firm, House of Knowledge. This interactive patent analytics training was piloted in South Africa and subsequently used in other countries, offering a more experiential and engaging approach to capacity-building.
A new partnership with the International Trademark Association (INTA) was also established to develop training materials focused on trademark and industrial design searches, with the objective to enable TISCs to broaden their service offering and better support brand and design development efforts.
New publications were also produced. The Toolkit on New Product Development and Inventions in the Public Domain, launched in December 2024, is designed to guide systematic decision-making throughout the product development process. Building on the WIPO guides on identifying and using inventions in the public domain, the toolkit includes practical tools, videos, datasets and step-by-step instructions to help researchers and entrepreneurs bring new products and services to the market.
The third edition of the WIPO Technology Trends reports, focusing on the future of transportation, was also released, alongside three new patent landscape reports on Sustainable Development Goals-related technologies, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and agrifood innovation. These resources provide empirical insights that TISCs can draw upon when advising innovators and policymakers. Additionally, a new Arabic version of the WIPO Patent Drafting Manual was released, joining the existing English, French, and Spanish editions as a valuable reference for patent drafting.
To improve access to innovation finance, a new series of “Hands-on IP Finance” guides is also in development. The first guide, Securing Loans with Your IP Assets, was launched in December 2024. It includes templates and checklists to help innovators articulate IP value and engage with lenders, investors and financial institutions.
Regional cooperation among TISCs also continued to play an important role in 2024, with formal regional networks established in Africa, the Arab region, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In Southeast Asia, TISC representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states explored opportunities to reinforce their regional approach to developing sustainable TISC networks, which resulted in a breakthrough in discussions to establish a governance mechanism for TISC activities in the region.
To strengthen regional innovation ecosystems, new IP policy models were developed for institutions in Africa and ASEAN, with mentorship-based implementation support provided to eight institutions in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand. A third model is currently being developed for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Institutional IP Policies Database also underwent a comprehensive upgrade, including a migration to a modern content management system. With enhanced performance and usability, the database now includes updated content from 1,500 policy documents across 718 institutions, offering a more robust and accessible reference resource.
Finally, to support the professional development of TISC staff and enhance the standardization of TISC services across the global network, a new TISC Staff Certification Program was developed in partnership with the WIPO Academy. The program aims to establish a curriculum-based professional certification focused on building the core competencies required for effective TISC operations. The certification is structured around two levels: Foundation and Specialization, with specialization areas such as patentability and novelty search. In 2024, the first pilot session of the TISC Foundation Certificate Course was launched, with 48 participants from six countries (China, Kenya, Madagascar, Peru, Philippines and Saudi Arabia). At the end of the pilot run, 36 participants successfully completed the course and are now officially recognized as “Certified TISC Staff” (see the Special Feature of this report for more on this new program).