When :
from Friday 23 April, 2021 12:00 to Saturday 24 April, 2021 13:55Where :
Online from Paris, Paris, FranceContact :
Ana PersicRecognizing Open Science as a true game-changer in addressing the pressing planetary and socio-economic challenges, UNESCO is leading a global dialogue with the aim of developing the first international standard setting instrument on Open Science, the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.
One of the issues raised during the consultative process of developing the Recommendation has been the need for a clear understanding of the relationships between Open Science and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Is Open Science compatible with IPRs? And vice-versa? How do public research institutes strike the right balance between IPR and open knowledge access? What are the connections between Open Science, innovation, knowledge transfer and IPRs, particularly in the context of developing countries?
Recognizing the ongoing policy challenge to establish an optimal balance between IPR protection and openness as critical for the operationalization of Open Science worldwide, UNESCO invited experts on the topic, Member States’ representatives and the broad UNESCO Open Science community to discuss the relationships between IPRs and Open Science; to present the different existing instruments and mechanisms that reconcile ownership and sharing/openness, and to exchange on balanced approaches between IPRs and Open Science.
This meeting marks an opportunity to initiate the discussion on the relationships between IPRs and Open Science and to increase our awareness of the different existing instruments that reconcile IP and openness.
This online meeting brought together over 500 participants who engaged in a lively debate with the invited experts: Mr Marco Aleman, Assistant Director-General, IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector in WIPO; Ms Brigitte Vezina, Director of Policy in Creative Commons; Ms Alessandra Baccigotti, Knowledge Transfer Manager and Head of Intellectual Property Protection at the University of Bologna’s Knowledge Transfer Office; Ms Ruth L. Okediji, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Co-Director of the Berkman Klein Centre; Ms Margo A. Bagley, Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law; Ms Carolina Botero Cabrera, Director of the Karisma Foundation.
The discussions focused mainly on the complexity of the different Open Science elements under IP rights and insights of existing tools and mechanisms; different existing instruments and mechanisms and examples of innovative ways of reconciling ownership and sharing/openness in institutional approaches but also in scientific communities; and the current international negotiations and agreements on the topic and how they are currently formulated considering the experience built during the COVID-19 crisis.
The experts concurred that IPRs are not an obstacle to Open Science. On the contrary, the correct definition of the IP framework can be an essential tool for Open Science to stimulate collaboration and ensure, among others, that all contributors that share their scientific data, information and knowledge are adequately acknowledged and recognized.
They also argued that different types of IPRs have different impacts on the Open Science ecosystem since they facilitate different levels of openness, regulatory exclusivities and protection against misuse of data and knowledge.
Finally, they agreed that balanced policies and strategies are needed to reconcile possible tensions between Open Science and IPRs and provided examples of good practices going forward.
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