Abstract

Many emerging and developing economies follow a model of maximising ownership and base their innovation policies on European and US approaches. Do they have an opportunity to take a radical approach to intellectual property and if so, what could that look like and what would it mean for equitable and sustainable development?

Readings and links to the online papers and group annotations will be distributed by email, please contact synbio@hermes.cam.ac.uk to sign up for the whole series or individual sessions. It is strongly recommended that papers are read in advance of the meetings.

ABOUT THE SERIES : The guiding question of our research group will be the extent to which open technologies result in equitable sharing of knowledge and cognitive or technology justice. ‘Open’ IP describes a range of approaches to knowledge production, distribution and consumption that allow more or different actors to participate in producing and benefit from technologies. The global shift to knowledge-based economies and increasingly rapid pace of technological advancement means that the question of how society deals with intellectual property (IP) and structures institutions and communities to manage and disseminate knowledge is critically important to our future. Our choices will reflect and shape our societal values, practices and culture. Advocates of open and collaborative approaches point to evidence of real social impact from but there is little published evidence and any effects are heavily context dependent.