[Ip-health] Re: [A2k] WIPO Secretariat surges ahead on hosting roundtable on “Economic s of IP”

[Robin Gross]

Thanks, Thiru, I had been wondering about this WIPO event since the
mysterious announcement of it.

I don't recognize any of the names of the economists who participated in
WIPO's round table.   Are any of them noted for promoting development in
their work?

I would also be curious to hear how the member country delegates who
attended this meeting found it to be.

Thanks,
Robin


Thiru Balasubramaniam wrote:

>
>
> 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, CENI=
T,
> 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 Fédéral=
e
> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Thiru Balasubramaniam
> Geneva Representative
> Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
> thiru@keionline.org
>
>
> Tel: +41 22 791 6727
> Mobile: +41 76 508 0997
>
>
>
>
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