Sustainable Development Goals and Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property (IP) is a critical incentive for innovation and creativity, which in turn are key to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) success.
Stories of how individual inventors, companies and other organizations find solutions to social, economic, health and environmental challenges are a powerful reminder of our collective capacity to achieve the SDGs and the role that IP rights play in this.
The theme of World Intellectual Property Day 2024 campaign is IP and the SDGs: Building our common future with innovation and creativity. Visit the campaign webpage to explore how intellectual property encourages and can amplify the innovative and creative solutions that are so crucial to building our common future.
Connecting the dots between IP and the SDGs
The SDGs are a blueprint for people, peace, prosperity and our planet. Just as the challenges we face are multi-faceted and complex, the 17 SDGs are interdependent, with action in one area affecting outcomes in others. We need to act now and we need to use all the tools available to us, especially our ingenuity and intellectual property to achieve a sustainable future for everyone, everywhere.
Find out how intellectual property fosters the innovation and creativity we need to drive human progress, and connect IP to the SDGs to make the world a better place.
Implementing the SDGs in national intellectual property systems
A research study by WIPO Japan Office in collaboration with WIPO’s Special Representative on the UN SDGs, and commissioned to Inngot Limited identifies examples of good practice among IP offices in supporting the achievement of SDGs.
Using a combination of primary and secondary research (survey data and published materials), a cross-section of offices has been examined.
SDG spotlight on national and regional initiatives
Costa Rica/Netherlands
Sibö B.V. Unlocks the Potential of Insect-Based Food with Entowise
Sibö B.V. produces the first water-soluble insect-based protein Entowise, a sustainable food option. Discover the story behind the patented invention.
Moldova
ABS Recycling, the Pioneer of Waste Management in Moldova
ABS Recycling opened the first recycling centre in Moldova. Read our case study to discover their state-of-the-art waste management software.
Armenia
Revalcon Smart Irrigation System
Revalcon Smart Irrigation System is a green technology for agriculture that prevents over-irrigation. Discover how Revalcon protected its smart farming system.
Switzerland
Reconciling economy and ecology
The Solar Impulse Foundation has set itself an ambitious new challenge to find, select and promote 1000 clean technologies that protect the environment in a profitable way.
Philippines
Treating Wastewater with Vigormin
Research undertaken by Dr. Merlinda A. Palencia at Adamson University in the Philippines offers a non-toxic way to treat odors generated by wastewater and solid waste.
South Africa
Transforming Waste Pulp into a New Feedstock for the Chemical Industry
Researchers from Stellenbosch University, South Africa have developed method of depolymerizing phenolic polymers to convert waste pulp into a new feedstock for the chemical industry.
Singapore
Celebrating Innovation for a Green Future
Sky Green has developed a system of special aluminum troughs on large A-frames which allows the farm to grow 10 times as much vegetables using 95 percent less water as compared to traditional open field farms.
United Kingdom
Aurelius Environmental
This company's FenixPb process can recover the active material in batteries while reducing the carbon footprint by more than 85 percent. It is a zero-waste process, and substantially redues the energy used because the process takes place in cold water instead of in a furnace.
Peru
Tackling air pollution from mining
The qAIRa startup is using drone and sensing technology to tackle air pollution, including that associated with the country’s mining operations. Peru is one of the world’s leading producers of copper, zinc and many other minerals.
SDG spotlight on WIPO programs
WIPO programs contribute to the SDGs in various concrete ways ranging from the sharing of technical information and support for creating online marketplaces for the licensing of technology.
WIPO GREEN
WIPO GREEN contributes to the SDGs through an online marketplace for sustainable technologies.
ABC
WIPO's Accessible Books Consortium contributes to the SDGs through helping increase the number of books worldwide in accessible formats and making them available to the visually impaired.
WIPO Match
WIPO Match is a free online tool used to match seekers of specific IP-related development needs with potential providers offering resources.
TISCs
WIPO’s Technology Innovation and Support Centers contribute to the SDGs by providing on-the-ground IP information and support to innovators where they need it most.
Inventor Assistance Program
The Inventor Assistance Program (IAP) matches developing-country inventors with patent attorneys who give them free legal advice on patenting.
IP and Tourism
This project demonstrates how IP tools and strategies can support the promotion of sustainable tourism, as well as economic, social and cultural development.
Innovation Gender Gap
Studying the gender gap in the IP system is a step towards fostering a more inclusive innovation landscape.