High-Level Forum Discusses The Ip Needs Of Ldcs

Overcoming the development gap separating least developed countries (LDCs) from the rest of the world was at the heart of discussions during a WIPO high-level forum held on July 23 and 24 in Geneva. The forum brought together ministers and other high-level officials from LDCs to discuss the strategic use of intellectual property (IP) for national prosperity and development. Discussion covered a wide range of topics, including the need to bridge the technology gap and the importance of integrating IP into national development policy.

Opening the forum, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry stressed that access to technological information, and acquiring the human capital to use it, was key to realizing the creative potential of LDCs and to speeding their integration into the global knowledge economy. He underscored the importance of databases such as WIPO's Patentscope®, which offers free access to the accumulated knowledge contained in some 1.6 million patent documents.

Noting that concrete steps in bridging the technology gap were needed, Mr. Gurry announced the launch, during the forum, of a new service for LDCs - aRDi (Access to Research for Development and Innovation). aRDi will provide LDCs with free access to a series of important scientific and technical journals (see box). He also drew attention to a major WIPO conference to be held in November, designed to mobilize extra-budgetary resources from around the world to finance activities such as capacity building for LDCs, enhancing their ability to leverage such technical information in line with their national requirements.

IP for sustainable development

During the forum, Mr. Dilip Barua, Bangladesh's Minister for Industries spoke in his capacity as Chairman of the Coordination Council of the LDCs. Ministers from Benin, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Maldives, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda also addressed the meeting, touching on a wide range of issues and concerns.

The view was expressed that, while LDCs once regarded the IP system as a monopoly tool, they now saw it as "an instrument for sustainable development." However, they faced huge challenges in building IP institutions and systems and developing the necessary human resources in order to benefit fully from IP.

The need to formulate national development policies that integrate the strategic use of IP was...