Rockefeller Foundation initiative to promote intellectual property (IP) policies fairer to poor people

NEW YORK, November 4, 2002 — Recognizing that emerging international intellectual property (IP) policies do not adequately reflect or respond to the concerns of poor people and developing countries, the Rockefeller Foundation (www.rockfound.org) has begun a multi-year initiative to support the emergence of fairer, development-oriented IP policies. As part of this new initiative the Foundation is launching this week a three-year series of meetings at its international conference center in Northern Italy to focus attention on neglected development perspectives on IP policy.

The Foundation will support the call for a more balanced international IP policy framework by supporting initiatives to deepen analysis of the range of possible IP policy options, demonstrate innovative practical approaches to IP, build leadership among developing countries, NGOs and community groups, and broadening participation in international IP policymaking.

Improving lives and livelihoods

“Through the work of our grantee organizations, the Foundation will pursue IP policies that protect poor consumers against rising costs of vital technologies,” said Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
“Technologies, such as new drugs and improved seed varieties, are crucial to combating disease, alleviating hunger and reducing poverty. But the poor can only benefit from these technologies if they are affordable. This depends on removing the restrictions imposed by current Intellectual Property policies.”

By working for IP policies that defend the sharing of knowledge, information, and research among scientists, inventors, farmers, and creators, Rockefeller Foundation grantees will help sustain a vital precondition for innovation. A component of the work will target marginalized constituencies, supporting efforts to protect poor rural farmers, indigenous communities and developing-country scientists from unauthorized or unfairly compensated use of their knowledge. The Rockefeller Foundation hopes that its efforts will contribute to maximizing the flexibility of developing countries to devise national IP policies that advance their sustainable development objectives.

Fostering a pro-poor IP policy agenda

To complement its grantmaking efforts, the Rockefeller Foundation is also launching a three-year series of consultations and workshops, the Bellagio Series on Development and Intellectual Property Policy. The Bellagio Series will provide a venue for developing country policymakers, scientists, and civil society groups to share and critically examine neglected development-oriented IP policy options, develop political strategies, and review broader approaches to promoting development and innovation. By providing opportunities for historically marginalized actors and promising new entrants to engage in strategic discussion of IP policy (such as indigenous peoples and emerging IP policy leaders from developing countries), the Foundation’s strategy is to strengthen and broaden the community of pro-poor, development-oriented IP analysts, advocates and policymakers.

The Series will be convened at a newly-restored 17th century Capuchin friary on the grounds of the Foundation’s Bellagio Study and Conference Center on Lake Como in Northern Italy. Held over several contiguous weeks, each annual series will consist of several intersecting meetings, some hosted by external organizations and some directly by the Foundation, depending on strategic priorities, needs and policy opportunities. The Bellagio IP Series is not designed to produce a specific, single report or set of conclusions.

2002 Bellagio IP Series meetings

The 2002 Bellagio IP Series is the first installment in the three-year series of meetings and will feature the following five core meetings.

Towards development-oriented IP Policy: Setting an Agenda for the Next Five Years.
30 October-2 November.
This meeting gathers a group of approximately 20 leading development and IP analysts and developing country government experts with the aim of identifying policy recommendations and actions required in the next five years to rebalance the current terms of international engagement on IP policy.
Organized by the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development and the UN Conference for Trade and Development

Empowering New IP Policy Leadership.
12-15 November
This meeting will draw together a group of leading organizations, academics, and a group of emerging IP experts from developing countries to help design a strategy for mentoring a next generation of public-interest oriented IP policy leaders from developing countries.
Organized by the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute

Workshop on Technology Transfer for Human Development.
15-17 November
A small group of experts will meet to explore the relative importance of IP policy within the broader scope of policy and capacity needs related to technology transfer and development, and identify priorities and policy options in the context of ongoing WTO discussions on technology transfer.
Organized by the Rockefeller Foundation

Collective Management of IP: Tackling the Anti-Commons.
20-25 November
This meeting will draw together experts with experience in alternative, collective approaches to IP, such as the open source movement, “creative commons”, and IP pooling mechanisms, to explore the concepts, potentials and problems of knowledge/technology trusts.
Organized by the Rockefeller Foundation

Call of the Earth Circle: Indigenous Peoples' Dialogue on IP.
26-30 November
Launching an indigenous peoples network to articulate the varying perspectives of indigenous peoples in international IP policy processes.
Organized by an Ad Hoc Steering Committee of Indigenous Peoples