World Intellectual Property Organization (Books and Journals)

• WIPO Magazine

Tencent is a global technology firm that operates the world’s leading video game development, publishing and operations platform. It is also a global leader in invention and technology investment with prominence in fintech, cloud services, digital communications (it has its own free messaging and calling app, WeChat, known as Weixin in China) and its own Netflix-like streaming platform, Tencent...

• WIPO Magazine

Today, Taibo Bacar’s eponymous fashion house is holding its own on international catwalks and in highbrow stores, belying its humble Mozambican origins. Taibo Bacar is one of Africa’s leading fashion houses, renowned for its imaginative combination of high and fast fashion goods. The brand’s statement pieces recount personal stories with a pop of color, intricate cuts and details, which have won...

• WIPO Magazine

• WIPO Magazine

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw warp-speed development of vaccines in some parts of the world. But for Africa, the pandemic highlighted the urgent need to build capacity on the continent to develop and manufacture much-needed vaccines. This is something the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) has been advocating for over 10 years. In a wide-ranging interview with WIPO Magazine,...

• WIPO Magazine

The last decade has seen a rapid increase in demand from consumers for “environmentally friendly” products and services. Climate change and its impacts ─ record-setting tsunamis and hurricanes, out-of-control wildfires, floods and landslides, droughts and scorching temperatures ─ are driving demand for goods that are sustainably produced and can be used without harming the environment

• WIPO Magazine

Hydraloop, a decentralized greywater recycling system, allows households to cut water consumption and wastewater emissions by up to 45 percent, respectively. At a time when soaring temperatures are wreaking havoc around the world, causing water scarcity and drought, the availability of this award-winning water treatment solution could not be more timely

• WIPO Magazine

In 2016, pioneering South African hip hop artist, Tumi Molekane, the lead vocalist of the now disbanded group, Tumi and the Volume, launched his solo career as Stogie T. The popular rap artist recently sat down with WIPO Magazine in a wide-ranging interview where he talks about his passion for hip hop music, his recent signing with Def Jam Africa and how important it is for young musicians to...

• WIPO Magazine

Pardon me: an e-…what? According to the definition in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, an esport is “a video game played as a competition for people to watch as entertainment”. Albeit with some approximation, this definition captures the essence of the phenomenon and helps us introduce this first very important point: any videogame (whether it’s a virtual simulation of a traditional...

• WIPO Magazine

For Subama Mapou, the vast resources of New Caledonia offer a wealth of inspiration for the development of new plant-based innovations that draw on the traditional knowledge of the islands’ Indigenous Peoples. As a young Kanak woman from the Unia tribe of the Djawari chiefdom, Mapou’s family introduced her to this knowledge at a young age. The family’s ancestors make up a long line of traditional

• WIPO Magazine

Products that bear a geographical indication of origin owe their special characteristics to the locality in which they are produced. They are the fruit of the traditions crafted over centuries by people from a specific location who have transferred their knowledge and skills across generations

• WIPO Magazine

• WIPO Magazine

Villgro Africa is a Nairobi-based business incubator and early-stage investor focusing on health and life sciences. Dr Robert Karanja, the incubator’s Chief Innovation Officer and co-founder, explains how Villgro Africa is working to transform Africa’s innovation landscape and helping startups take their ideas to market

• WIPO Magazine

NASA’s well-established technology transfer program is reaching out to support startup companies and a greater range of entrepreneurs, enabling space-age inventions to transform products from bicycles to medical devices

• WIPO Magazine

Semiconductors, “the brains of modern electronics,” without which the digital devices we use every day would not work, have been responsible for driving advances in digital technologies for decades. The pioneering Japanese company, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. (SEL), is a world leader in this field, and continues to break new ground in developing high-performance next-generation...

• WIPO Magazine

In 2020, global demand for lubricants rose to 37 million metric tons, according to Statista. Lubricants play a key role in optimizing the efficiency and safety of machinery. However, the disposal of the plastic containers in which lubricants are delivered to customers is a major environmental threat and their decontamination is a longstanding industrial conundrum

• WIPO Magazine

If you think about it, intellectual property (IP) is everywhere. It’s even in Quavo, the rapper’s, lyric: “Do it for the culture, they gon’ bite like vultures”, from the song, T-Shirt by Migos. In this song, the rap trio, which includes, Quavo, Offset and Takeoff, pays respect to “the culture”, that is, hip-hop culture, an important driver of black empowerment, which has become a global movement,

• WIPO Magazine

For the past decade, MIT research scientist and engineer Hyunwoo Yuk has been working to prevent 2 million people from dying every year due to rapid blood loss from serious injuries and invasive surgeries. How? He’s passionate about solving difficult challenges. He is personally motivated. He likes to bake and to bake up new ideas. And he thinks outside the box

• WIPO Magazine

Isabella Springmuhl has carved a niche for herself in the fashion industry, thanks to the creativity and soul she puts into the designs she creates for her brand, Down to Xjabelle. The 25-year old is the first designer with Down syndrome to feature in London Fashion Week, one of the world’s biggest fashion events. She is using the power of fashion to challenge the stereotypes and social...

• WIPO Magazine

What is the metaverse? In the simplest of terms, it is a virtual space in which users are and will be able to interact and connect with each other in myriad ways – gaming, collaborating, shopping, and exploring – without leaving the comfort of their couch. Some of this functionality already exists in gaming platforms

• WIPO Magazine

The Korean boy band BTS is one of the most successful groups of all time. Since releasing its first album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, in 2013, the group’s seven members ̶ RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook ̶ have built up a huge global following. With roots in the Korean underground hip hop scene, BTS successfully transcends language and culture barriers with songs like Blood, Sweat and Tears,...

• WIPO Magazine

*In the first of a new WIPO report series, WIPO recently partnered with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) to document the country’s journey towards unlocking IP-backed financing. Mr. Andre Toh, the author of the report, shares the country’s experience in developing a multifaceted ecosystem to help businesses maximize the potential of their IP assets

• WIPO Magazine

One of the most high-profile technological stories of 2021 has been the rise in popularity of the non-fungible token (NFT), the newest hype in the world of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrencies. This breakthrough technology has taken the art and tech worlds by storm

• WIPO Magazine

Some great news broke recently for the worldwide treatment of COVID-19: the Medicines Patent Pool, a UN-backed non-profit organization, of which WIPO is a board member, agreed to work with Pfizer and Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), both members of WIPO Re:Search, for the licensing of anti-viral pills − MSD’s molnupiravir and Pfizer’s PF-07321332 − in nearly 100 low- and middle-income countries

• WIPO Magazine

Bees are the most important pollinators in the insect world and play a central role in ensuring the global food supply. Without pollination, many plants cannot reproduce. Saar Safra, CEO of Israeli start-up Beewise, is on a mission to save bees − and at scale − using artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision and robotics. Mr. Safra explains how Beewise’s high-tech solution is helping to save...

• WIPO Magazine

At this critical threshold of expansion of commercial activity off the Earth’s surface − in Low Earth Orbit, around 2,000 kilometers from Earth on the moon, and on Mars − the need to fill the void of legal regulation in space, which is now a legal “no man’s land,” is increasing with every launch

• WIPO Magazine

Public research systems play a huge role in generating new knowledge and enabling its real-world application. For decades, countries around the world have been implementing policies to improve the efficiency of knowledge transfer from public research to the market to boost economic growth and address real-world challenges

• WIPO Magazine

In 2010, Australian singer/songwriter Charlton Hill and music technologist Justin Shave joined ranks to set up Uncanny Valley, a Sydney-based progressive technology company at the cutting-edge of the music industry. Charlton Hill, who is also head of innovation at Uncanny Valley, discusses the company’s ambitions to speed up, democratize and re-shape music production through the use of artificial

• WIPO Magazine

Mauricio de Sousa Productions (MSP) was founded in 1959 and is widely recognized as one of Brazil’s most successful comic book and animation publishers. It all began when, in 1959, a leading newspaper in São Paulo began publishing its first daily comic strip about a dog named “Bidu” and its owner. The illustrious career of Brazil’s best-known comic strip artist, Mauricio de Sousa, who turns 86...

• WIPO Magazine

Graphenel JSC, based in Ho Chi Minh City, is a technology company that specializes in the large-scale production of graphene and its applications. Jane Phung, responsible for the company’s international business development, discusses the company’s novel approach to graphene production, the challenges it faces in Viet Nam’s nascent graphene market and the role that intellectual property (IP)...

• WIPO Magazine

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games took place in Tokyo from August 24 to September 5, 2021. Some 4,400 athletes with disabilities competed for gold in 22 disciplines. IP protected sports prostheses were one of the key devices they used to achieve their goals. Research and development have helped athletes get the most out of their athletic ability