IP: the fuel for innovation

"Innovation improves lives" is the theme selected by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this year for World Intellectual Property (IP) day. One does not have to think long to understand how a new vaccine, a new medicine curing a particular disease or a new diagnostic are in the most literal and direct sense, improving our daily lives and contributing to people living longer, healthier and happier lives. Decades ago, we couldn’t have dreamed of the spectrum of treatment options that we have available today.

However, because it takes so much time and risks to bring a new medicine to patients, companies investing into researching and developing these new medicines need some guarantee that at the end of the process, if all efforts successfully turn into an innovative medicine, they will be rewarded for it.

That’s what IP does. Encouraging companies to go beyond their comfort zone, to go beyond the world and options of today, to reach for the future, to go this extra step which means people lives can be improved or even saved. IP encourages these efforts by rewarding them when they succeed in making a difference.

Thereby, IP also sustains the companies’ incentives to strive to always push the frontier further. It is the fuel to innovation and thereby the springboard to progress. IP is the reason why we have innovative medicines today, and critically also the reason why we will have more tomorrow.  

Beyond today, every day should be an occasion to remember that IP gives all of us the means to realise the potential of science and make a difference.

To understand better why IP incentives are key for innovation, watch this new video by EFPIA: