Intellectual Property Management to Support Innovation Systems: Setting the Site at the Global Level

Dr. Victoria Henson-ApollonioIP Consultant & Special Graduate Faculty, University of Guelph

Open Access Week, University of GuelphOctober 21-26, 2012

04/20/23 2

Software

Gene seq.

Methods

GermplasmTraining Materials

Research Tools

Data

Farming Practices

Publications©

©©

• Access and USE• Attribution, reputation• End-use• End-users• Developers• Participatory practices and co-development• Meeting needs of the poor• Tools to know what we have

Why does this matter?

PublicGoods

PublicGoods

Examples of Issues?• Germplasm

– Distribution of public and private materials under SMTA for Annex 1, non-Annex 1

– Exclusivity; Humanitarian use clauses• Confidentiality of information/knowledge

provided by others– Building confidence to deal with this?– Prior informed consent (PIC)

• Confidentiality of information/knowledge generated in project– Publication of results– Exclusivity; Humanitarian use

1

32

4

•Center seminars•NPI•Annual Meeting•Skills-building Workshop•Web-based products

•Center visits•Transactional work•System Dynamics Modeling•Case studies•Stewardship papers

•License Central•MoU template •IP Health Check

•Blog•Branding, •Marketing

Branding Workshop

Development of Performance Indicators

The International Level

PublicGoods

CAS@Cambridge

• 2nd Yr Law students or LLM students chosen by UofCambridge

• Centers would indicate a need for some additional legal personnel

• Internship establishedExposure of Law students to IP issues in

Agriculture and the notion of Public Goods

The International Level

National Partners Initiative (NPI); An International Society of IP Practitioners

Centers and National Partners

Skills Building Workshops

Annual Mtgs. Case StudiesSharePoint

materialsCompendium

Centers and National Partners

Skills Building Workshops

Annual Mtgs. Case StudiesSharePoint

materialsCompendium

Methodology for Establishing

• Funding –Proposal development and submission

• Identification of Participants• Identification of Networks that already exist• Dedicated staff (full-time and part-time)

Methodology for Capacity Strengthening

• Network or Community-of-Practice (CoP)?• Annual Meeting

– Annual workplan development and reporting• ‘Open Space’ Facilitation technique

• Reflection/Review of TT experiences from each office– Competitive grants scheme

Methodology for Capacity Strengthening

• Annual ‘workplans’ that incorporated ways in which members would contribute to a ‘knowledge’ base and also would benefit from support from the CoP

• Skills-building workshops– Proposal writing– Communications and Facilitation– Presentation– Negotiations

Results from the Project

• Participatory CoP• 40 participants over a 3-year period• Participants all practitioners

Results from the Project

• 3 Annual Meetings• 3 Workshops• 15 case studies• Database of templates, tools• Publication of a compendium covering IP

practices in several developing countries • Informal Community stills exists after funding

ceased in 2010

Introductory video on YouTube

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd-WiYpz7iY

Lessons for UoG?• Establishing a Community-of-Practice is an effective

mechanism for increasing the interest and skill in this area– Could be based on subject areas (e.g. plant breeders), cross-

disciplinary (e.g. access to data, results, publications)– Could be based on similar Departments in several universities

• Prize/competition for most broadly used innovations (‘Yukon Gold’ potato) or ‘Best Practices’ (‘Open Access’ series)

• University-wide discussion re: the writing of a University-wide IP/TT Policy Statement

• Involvement of the seed sector. Governmental agencies, universities --in a Seminar series, etc.