Latin America's first international patented invention competition

• Author: Constanza Zülch - Francisco Carrasco
• Position: Communications Division, National Institute of Industrial Property, Chile - Communications Division, National Institute of Industrial Property, Chile
• Pages: 30-33

30 June 2019

Latin America’s rst

international patented

invention competition

In September 2018, with the support of the World

Intellectual Propert y Organization (WIPO), PROSUR, a

regional organization ma ndated to foster cooperation in

the eld of industrial prope rty, launched its rst Patented

Invention Competition. The aim of the com petition was to

promote innovation and to encourage gre ater use of the

IP system, in general, and the patent system in par ticular,

across Latin America.

“The competition has enabled us to promote greater

awareness across the region about the role that patents

can play in incentivizing innovation, in improving the re-

gion’s competiveness and in driving its econ omic growth,”

said PROSUR’s acting President, Harr y Peralta López.

“Every year, more than 50,000 patent applic ations are led

in Latin America. O ur aim in running the competition is to

encourage much greater use of the p atent system and, of

course, to demonstrate the region’s capacity to develop

ground-breaking and commercially valuable inventions.”

ROLLING OUT THE COMPETITION

The call for applications to enter th e competition was open

to the 13 member countries of PROSUR (see box). Following

a rigorous screening pro cess, 23 applications – of which 11

had led patent applications un der WIPO’s Patent Cooper-

ation Treaty – made it to the competition. Applica nts were

required to provide proof that their inventio n was covered by

a patent or utility model regi stration that had been granted

within ve years prior to the date of the competition’s launch.

“The competition was develope d not only to give special

recognition to Latin Amer ican innovators, but also to en-

courage innovation and creativit y, which are key elements

for ensuring development throughout the region,” noted

Mr. Peralta López.

The applications were evaluated by a jur y of experts from

the International Federation of I nventors’ Associations, the

Max Planck Institute, the Inter-American Development

Bank and Marca Sur Magazine.

THE WINNERS

The winners, announced in January 2019, hail from

Argentina, Chile and Peru. Entrants for the competition

included some of the best patented inventions in the

region. All of the inventions that made it to the nal

selection were evaluated according to the following

criteria: potential to generate social and economic

benets; environmental impact; the number of countries

in which they were protected; and gender focus.

The competition’s top prize went to a team of research-

ers from Argentina’s National Agricultural Technology

Institute for their work in combatti ng the harmful effects

of rotavirus, a pathogen that kills over 550,0 00 children

globally every year.

The judges chose the work of the winning team – Thomas

Surrey, Aurelien Olichon, Silvia Sebastián Gómez, José

Ángel Martínez Escribano, Andrés Wigdorovitz, Lorena

Laura Garaicoeachea, Gisela Ariana Marcoppido and Gladys

Viviana Parreño – because they determined it would play a

crucial role in improving the well-being of children in Latin

America and beyond.

The initiative took shape in 2011, when the researchers began

looking for a solution to neutralize dif ferent rotavirus variants

using nano-antibodies from camelid herbivores, such as

llamas, alpacas, and vicuña s, which are common in Argentina.

One of the team’s objectives was to make dairy products

containing these antibodies to protect children under the

age of ve from diarrhea.

By Constanza Zülch and Fra ncisco Carrasco,

Communicat ions Division, National I nstitute of

Industria l Property, Chile