Impact of AI on IP Feature in Discussions during Director General’s Official Visit to Japan

February 15, 2019

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry concluded a two-day official visit to Japan on February 14, 2019 where he met senior government officials and industry leaders to discuss bilateral relations and also the significant impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on innovation and the intellectual property (IP) system.

In talks with Ministers and other senior officials, the Director General welcomed Japan’s commitment to multilateralism and its support to the Organization.

The Government of Japan and WIPO renewed solid cooperation for promoting innovation to support global economic growth and to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

During the visit, Mr. Gurry met Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko and discussed ways of building on the excellent ongoing cooperation between Japan and WIPO to promote innovation to achieve the SDGs.

WIPO Director General Gurry meets Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (photo: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry).

Collaboration will include the promotion of the IP system as an essential part of the innovation eco-system on the occasion of the World Expo 2025 which Osaka will host. The theme for the Expo is an inclusive and human-centered future society with innovation.

“I want to use Osaka Expo 2025 as ‘People’s Living Lab’ to explore the future society for SDGs. The foundation of the present IP system originated from general agreements on the protection of exhibited inventions at the Expo at Paris in 1878. In view of a close link between Expos and IP, consideration of how the IP system should support the fourth industrial revolution at Osaka Expo 2025 should be opportune and useful,” Minister Seko said.

Mr. Gurry also met Commissioner Naoko Munakata of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and discussed the JPO’s further contribution to WIPO for technical IP infrastructure building and digital transformation assistance to IP offices, strategic branding projects leveraging brand-related IP rights, support for start-ups to broaden the base of innovation in developing and least developed countries through Japan Funds-in-Trust with WIPO.

WIPO Director General Gurry met with Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (photo: Japan Patent Office).

Addressing the annual Symposium of the Japan Intellectual Property Organization (JIPA), which represents over one thousand Japanese companies who are active users of the IP system, Mr. Gurry praised Japan’s strong presence in AI-related innovation and IP activities, which was recently revealed in WIPO’s inaugural publication on new technologies, WIPO Technology Trends on AI.

“AI has a potential to profoundly change the landscape of industry in the near future. The advent of a broader implementation stage of AI technologies in dozens of industrial areas is just around the corner,” said Mr. Gurry.

“The IP system should facilitate more dynamic interaction among different fields of technologies in an unprecedented way, through cross-pollinating generic AI techniques to different technological fields as well as a combined use of AI and robotic processing automation in manufacturing, which will support industrial revolution 4.0, or also known as, Society 5.0 in Japan,” he added.

WIPO Director General Gurry speaks at annual JIPA Symposium (photo: Japan Intellectual Property Association).

The Director General also participated in a special panel to discuss global partnerships of Japanese companies in support of the SDGs, along with Ms. Yuko Harayama, the former Executive Member of the Council for Science and Technology Policy, created in the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister of Japan. Mr. Toshimoto Mitomo, Senior Vice President, Corporate Executive, Sony Corporation, and Vice Chairperson of JIPA, also took part in the discussion.

Mr. Gurry met with top officials at AI industry leaders - President Kenichiro Yoshida of Sony Corporation and President Toshiaki Higashihara of Hitachi Ltd. They exchanged views on new technologies, innovation and IP management.

WIPO Director General Gurry met with President and CEO of Hitachi (photo: Hitachi, Ltd.).

Mr. Gurry visited NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories and met with President Kohji Mitani to discuss work on a super high resolution TV and assistive technologies for visually impaired persons (AI-enabled text-to-speech tools). NHK, one of leading broadcasting organizations in the world and an active innovation-driven organization with advanced audio-visual technologies, also provides advanced technologies enabling visually impaired persons to receive broadcasted content.

Last year, Japan acceded to WIPO Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, and has actively been participating in on-going discussions at WIPO for a possible new treaty on the protection of broadcasting organizations.