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Intellectual Property Commercialization: Policy Options and Practical Instruments

Published:
Innovation is the key driver of economic growth and development in the medium to long term. It can be defined as the process of introducing new products, services and production processes into the market place and to create new profitable enterprises and higher-paying jobs on this basis. A well-balanced, affordable and reliable system of intellectual property rights has an important role to play in this process. Intellectual property rights serve to protect the - often large and highly risky - investments of innovative and creative companies against potential imitators and thereby provide key incentives to undertake such investments in the first place.
 
The present publication is not intended to provide a cross-country analysis of intellectual property laws and their economic impact. Instead it focuses on practical problems of using intellectual property rights in the innovation process, i.e. on the commercialization of intellectual property, and on the question of what economic policy can do to support the various innovation stakeholders in this process. Specifically, it discusses the role of intellectual property in the transfer of technology from public research organizations to the business sector, the management of intellectual property in small and medium-sized enterprises, and the auditing, valuation of and accounting for intellectual property.
 
The publication has been prepared on the basis of policy documents and other materials submitted to the UNECE by members of its Team of Specialists on Intellectual Property, as well
as other publicly available documents and materials. It also draws on the outcomes of international conferences held by the Team in Geneva in 2007, 2008 and 2010.