World IP Day 2002 - A Message from Director General Kamil Idris

Statement by Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), on World Intellectual Property Day, April 26, 2002

“Encouraging Creativity”, the theme of this year’s World Intellectual Property Day, springs from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) conviction that human inventiveness, harnessed by the intellectual property system, is key to generating wealth, raising living standards and enriching our global cultural heritage.

The ability to generate original and useful ideas and imagine a better future has fuelled human progress since the beginning of time generating a stream of life-enhancing breakthroughs in areas such as environmental protection, food security and healthcare, and a richer choice of music, films, and books.

WIPO is committed to the development of a universal culture of creativity, in which the intellectual property system is widely used to strengthen economic performance and enhance wealth creation for the betterment of all. The components of the intellectual property system such as patents, trademarks, and copyright, are powerful tools to capture the value of creativity and knowledge to promote economic and cultural development.

It is our mission at WIPO to encourage use of this system to realize the creative potential that lies in us all. This will help to make this world a better place for current and future generations.