Introduction Many people do not understand the seismic shift in IP that has taken place in China. It is on the verge of becoming a major IP-based economy based on innovative technology and IP, creating a tidal wave of patents likely to wash over the US and Europe’s shores in the next two decades, enabling China to dominate significant technology areas. This stems from the recognition inside China (largely missed by foreign observers) of the fundamental importance of IP to economic growth as well as the natural creativity and inventiveness of the Chinese. By contrast the real, but poorly understood, issue is that the West, particularly the US, continue to weaken their IP systems on which their competitive and innovative advantage over the past 200 years has been largely built. The ....Read More
Do Intellectual Property Rights Stimulate or Threaten Innovation?
The Chinese are often derided for counterfeiting everything in sight, but the reality is very different. As I write this in Beijing, I’m leafing through a Chinese comic book designed to teach seven-year olds about intellectual property. In today’s China, most children are taught the importance of IP and how it works as soon as they enter primary school. Since the early 1980s, the Chinese government has been intent on creating an economy in which IP plays a fundamental role. As former Premier Wen Jiabao often said, “competition in the future is competition in IP”. ....Read More
IPR and Low-carbon Technologies
In the final segment of a four-part series, Ian Harvey discusses how China can use intellectual property rights to promote the adoption of low-carbon technologies. ....Read More
Technology and IP: Problems and Solutions
In the third part of a series about intellectual property rights and low-carbon technologies, Ian Harvey investigates potential problems that may arise. ....Read More
Technology in a Warming World
In the second part of a series on chinadialogue, Ian Harvey says intellectual property rights will provide a catalyst for the deployment of low-carbon technologies. ....Read More
Myths and Legends
China is making intellectual property a mainstay of its economy. Problems remain, writes Ian Harvey, but complaints from western firms often betray ignorance and poor preparation.The obvious availability of counterfeit products in China obscures the huge progress that the country has made toward making intellectual property (IP) a mainstay of its economy. Problems remain, most of which the government is working hard to address. Some of these will take decades to truly change, but as premier Wen Jiabao has said on many occasions: “future competition in the world is IP competition”. ....Read More
Intellectual Property Rights: The Catalyst to Deliver Low Carbon Technologies
Climate change briefing paper from 2008 ....Read More