In Search of Effective Knowledge Business Models that Respond to a Greater Vision

Abstract

Today, unprecedented creation of wealth and economic growth at the global level, against a backdrop of increasing inequality within and among nations and regions, and daunting environmental problems, presents us with a different world from that of the Kennedy Round or the eighties, when TRIPS was conceived. In this current setting, innovation is very much needed – and needs to be stimulated – which is also absolutely clear from a sustainability perspective That is an imperative imposed by the immense challenges we face today. Policy design must respond to this pressing requirement through a mix of market-based incentives –through but not limited to for example IP schemes – and public investment. Indeed, the IP business model created over a hundred years ago might be proving in this first ten years of TRIPS that it is not sufficient or that it cannot be taken as a comprehensive, optimal response. New kinds of business models, such as open source, a "Global Scientific and Technological Commons", non-propietary systems as compensatory liability regimes, or public-private property-sharing collaborative scheme on innovation, are needed and might bring superior answers. In the meantime, while optimistically anticipating that wisdom will take us through a review of the TRIPS architecture based on public interest objectives and pro-development agendas, it is also clear that the current IP regimes will continue to play a key role. This paper has attempted to outline a few ideas to move forward in our quest for knowledge generation for public goods, public interest objectives and for the market. We need to be vigilant in ensuring that IP policies are not captured by rent-seeking and mercantilism, and that they effectively deliver from a greater vision the kind of research and knowledge required to provide innovation, medicines, education, technology and other critical public goods for the sustainability of the new century.