[A2k] WIPO Secretariat surges ahead on hosting roundt able on “Economics of IP”

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wp&Itemid=39

Thiru, from Geneva | WIPO Development Agenda
WIPO Secretariat surges ahead on hosting roundtable on “Economics of IP”
December 3rd, 2007 by Administrator

Without much fanfare save a press release bereft of critical detail,
the WIPO Secretariat hosted an international round table on from 26-27
November 2007 which brought together 15 leading economists to discuss
the “economics of intellectual property (IP)”.

According to the press release,

     Mr. Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director of WIPO’s Office of
Strategic Use of Intellectual Property for Development, said that the
roundtable provided an opportunity to review the empirical evidence,
identify gaps in the literature and discuss methodological approaches
that could be applied to study the economics of IP in developing
countries and countries with economies in transition.” He added “The
focus is on projects that could provide valuable insights to policy-
makers…and contribute to the overall understanding of the economics of
IP in developing countries and countries in transition and contribute
to the international debates in this field.”

     In light of the recent adoption by member states of a WIPO
Development Agenda, Mr. Saadallah said he expected an increase in
requests for WIPO to study issues relating to IP and economic
development. He added that “the Development Agenda is a landmark
agreement in the history of the Organization which reflects the desire
of member states to ensure that the IP system is not perceived as an
end in itself but as an instrument to promote technological innovation
and creativity, as well as the transfer and dissemination of
knowledge.” Mr. Saadallah said “Many developing countries in
particular have expressed their interest in assessing the impact of
the IP reforms undertaken over the past decade on innovation,
creativity, technology transfer, access to technology and other
important elements of countries’ development strategies. It is,
therefore, extremely important for WIPO to be ready to undertake such
studies.”

     The economists reviewed relevant empirical evidence, identified
gaps in the literature and discussed methodological approaches that
could be applied to study the issues in developing countries and
countries in transition. The basis for discussions were six draft
papers on the following themes: Innovation and Appropriability
Strategies, IP and International Technology Transfer, IP Rights in the
Pharmaceutical Industry, The Economics of Copyright, The Economics of
Geographical Indications, and IP Rights and Knowledge Transfer from
Public Research Organizations and Universities to Industry.

 From the press release, one could infer that this round table was
organized at the behest of Member States, particularly when
considering proposal 35 of the Development Agenda which calls upon
WIPO to undertake “new studies to assess the economic, social and
cultural impact of the use of intellectual property systems in these
States.”

Yet when your blogger inquired among the Geneva community of country
delegates, media and public policy think tanks for details of this
event, everyone seemed to be in the dark. It is unclear as to whether
even Member States were invited to this consultation. Considering that
this round table already has chosen six themes to draft papers on
(Innovation and Appropriability Strategies, IP and International
Technology Transfer, IP Rights in the Pharmaceutical Industry, The
Economics of Copyright, The Economics of Geographical Indications, and
IP Rights and Knowledge Transfer from Public Research Organizations
and Universities to Industry), one wonders what oversight, if any,
that Member States and the Development Agenda community have on this
process. Perhaps the most glaring lacunae in the press release was the
absence of a program or any mention of the economists who participated
in the round table.

Finally, a week later, the detailed programme has emerged (but sadly
not on the WIPO website but from a source outside WIPO). It is
reproduced below.

WIPO/IP/ECON/GE/07/INF/1 ORIGINAL: English
DATE: November 16, 2007
WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
GENEVA

WIPO INTERNATIONAL ROUNDTABLE ON THE

ECONOMICS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
organized by
the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Geneva, November 26 and 27, 2007
PROVISIONAL PROGRAM
prepared by the International Bureau of WIPO

November 26, 2007

9.00 – 9.15 Opening Remarks Mr. Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director,
Office of Strategic Use of Intellectual Property for Development
(OSUIPD), WIPO

Theme 1: Intellectual Property and International Technology Transfer

9.15 – 9.45 Speaker: Dr. Ashish Arora, Professor of Economics and
Public Policy, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and
Management, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, United States of
America

9.45 – 10.15 Comments by: Dr. Beata Javorcik, Reader in Economics,
Oxford University, United Kingdom

Dr. Albert Guangzhou Hu, Associate Professor, Department of Economics,
National University of Singapore, Singapore

10.15 – 11.00 Discussion by All Participants

11.00 – 11.15 Coffee break

Theme 2: Innovation and Appropriability Strategies

11.15 – 11.45 Speaker: Dr. Andrés López, Principal Researcher, CENIT,
and Professor, Department of Economics, University of Buenos Aires,
Buenos Aires

11.45 – 12.15 Comments: Dr. Dominique Foray, Director, Chair of
Economics and Management of Innovation, École Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne, Switzerland

Dr. Kevin Urama, Director, African Technology Policy Studies Network
(ATPS), Nairobi, Kenya

12.15 – 13.00 Discussion by All Participants

13.00 – 14.30 Lunch break

Theme 3: Intellectual Property Rights in the Pharmaceutical Industry

14.30 – 15.00 Speaker: Dr. Iain Cockburn, Professor of Finance and
Economics, Boston University, Boston, United States of America

15.00 – 15.30 Comments: Dr. Rokiah Alavi, International Islamic
University of Malaysia

Dr. Carsten Fink, Visiting Senior Fellow, Group d’Economie Mondiale,
Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, France

15.30 – 16.15 Discussion by All Participants

16.15 – 16.30 Coffee break

Theme 4: The Economics of Copyright

16.30 – 17.00 Speaker: Dr. Richard Watt, Senior Lecturer, Department
of Economics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

17.00 – 17.30 Comments: Dr. Ruth Towse, Professor of Economics of
Creative Industries, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Dr. Roger Melki, Professor, St Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon

Dr. José Luis Zofio, Professor, Department of Economic Analysis,
Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain

17.30 – 18.15 Discussion by All Participants

November 27, 2007

Theme 5: The Economics of Geographical Indications

9.00 – 9.30 Speaker: Dr. Johann Kirsten, Head, Department of
Agricultural Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria

9.30 – 10.00 Comments: Dr. John Wilkinson, Senior Lecturer, Graduate
Center : Development, Agriculture and Society (CPDA), Rural Federal
University Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dr. Roland Herrmann, Professor, Agricultural Policy and Market
Research, University of Giessen, Germany

10.00 – 10.45 Discussion by All Participants

10.45 – 11.00 Coffee break

Theme 6: IP Rights and Knowledge Transfer from Public Research
Organizations and Universities to Industry

11.00 – 11.30 Speaker: Dr. Fabio Montobbio, Researcher, Centre for
Research on Innovation and Internationalization (CESPRI), University
of Boconi, Milan, Italy

11.30 – 12.00 Comments: Dr. Dominique Foray

Dr. Albert Guangzhou Hu

12.00 – 12.30 Discussion by All Participants

12.30 – 13.30 Follow up and closing remarks: Mr. Pushpendra Rai,
Acting Director, Intellectual Property and Economic Development
Division, WIPO

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997