WIPO endorses green technology with online database
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is promoting green technology through an online marketplace, launched on Thursday.
WIPO Green seeks to connect technology developers and prospective licensors of environmentally-friendly products, and help developing countries address climate change.
“Our objective is for WIPO Green to become a go-to platform for green technologies, thanks to our growing network of partners and innovative collaborations with major global technology databases,” said WIPO director general Francis Gurry.
At least 1,000 green technologies, inventions and patents, from a wide range of institutions, filled the database during a pilot phase. The initiative’s 35 partners include Siemens, the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and the International Chamber of Commerce.
Sean Flanigan, president of AUTM, said he believed the initiative will succeed.
“I am confident that thousands of green technologies originating at universities will become available for license, development or sharing and will make a significant contribution to the economies of developing countries and to global climate change efforts alike.”
The project will have wider consequences too, said Klaus Helmrich, a board member of Siemens.
“Technologies aimed at improving environmental sustainability contribute to both economic growth and improved living standards. We therefore support their diffusion. WIPO Green is a promising multiplier for the transfer of sustainable technologies.”
The marketplace is a “welcome” development, said Nick Reeve, partner at Reddie & Grose LLP, adding that “our clean tech team hopes to be involved”.
People have tried to address the bottleneck of green technology inventions before, said Thomas Prock, partner at Marks & Clerk LLP, but this new project is likely to be more successful than any others because WIPO – a “big hitter” – is spearheading the initiative.
While WIPO’s “laudable” efforts to establish the marketplace should be praised, said Prock, the database’s success will depend on its usage.
Reeve added: “Though it’s run by an international organisation, its success will depend on the national partners, so to some extent the local partners will need to push it. It will need continued interest and support to work.
“It’s really about tech transfer but it has the added benefits of being run from an IP office, so that all different levels of people can be involved. It’s good to see the patent industry championing it.”
The marketplace could be particularly handy for connecting technology developers seeking to commercialise their products in less well-known markets, such as Africa, where finding a match for their invention might be otherwise quite tricky, claimed Prock.
But Reeve said the marketplace “is a bit like a green dating site and its success will depend on quality of the match.”
He added: “I’d hate to see it turn into a bulletin board for people offering a technology solution that may or may not find a home.”
