World Intellectual Property Day: Creativity and the Next Generation
![Various counterfeit products are displayed on a table at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., Nov. 29, 2010. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2013_0426_intellectual_property_m.jpg)
About the Author: Robert D. Hormats serves as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
Today, April 26, marks World Intellectual Property Day. Although this commemoration might go unnoticed by many, it’s worthwhile to imagine for a moment what life would be like without innovation or the inventions innovators produce. Thomas Hobbes famously quipped that humanity without social structure would be “solitary, poor, brutish, nasty and short.” The same can be said about humanity without innovation.
April 26 was chosen as the date for World Intellectual Property Day, because it coincides with the founding of the World Intellectual Property Organization, otherwise known as WIPO, in 1970. For this year’s celebration, WIPO has chosen to focus on “Creativity and the Next Generation.”
Inventors, scientists, artists, entertainers, and other creators devote substantial amounts of capital, imagination, persistence and sweat to their work. Intellectual… more »
Saving Lives, Livelihoods, and Life
![An endangered Agalychnis annae, commonly known as a Blue-Sided Leaf Frog, is seen at National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica, INBio, in Heredia, Costa Rica, Oct. 21, 2009. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2013_0422_biodiversity_costa_rica_m.jpg)
About the Authors: Harold Varmus, M.D., co-recipient of a Nobel Prize for studies of the genetic basis of cancer, is the Director of the National Cancer Institute, and Robert Hormats, Ph.D., is the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the U.S. Department of State.
For many people, the term biodiversity might seem highly technical and irrelevant to their day to day concerns. If you think that, think again. It may just save your life.
Biological diversity… more »
Illegal Wildlife Trade: A Survey of Greed, Tragedy, and Ignorance
![Elephants walk across the Taita Hills Game as the sun sets after a day long's walk in Kenya, Feb. 5, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0523_elephants_m.jpg)
About the Author: Robert D. Hormats serves as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
Since the beginning of 2012, over 250 elephants have been killed in Cameroon. Adults are being slaughtered for ivory to be used for jewelry, ornaments, and traditional medicine; young juveniles and infants are being killed indiscriminately or left orphaned to die without the protection of their mothers. Having lived in Kenya and Tanzania earlier in my life, I experienced firsthand the wonder of African elephants in their native habitats. That’s why I feel a personal sense of outrage at the senseless and immoral killing of wildlife. We should all feel outrage — even those who have not had the privilege to see elephants close up — because the conservation of our planet’s wildlife is an moral obligation we all share. The U.S. government has consistently been among the leaders in the efforts to protect elephants and other wildlife, but to be effective it’s vital that all governments… more »
Visionary Innovators and Intellectual Property in the 21st Century
![A photo taken at the University of Michigan shows a responsive envelope system prototype, a model for a structure that would be used in a building's exterior as part of a system to reduce its external power use and carbon footprint, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0426_innovation_michigan_m.jpg)
About the Author: Robert D. Hormats serves as the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the Department of State.
Today, we celebrate the contributions of scientists and innovators such as Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell. We recognize the writings of Jonathan Franzen, architectural designs of I. M. Pei, movies of Steven Spielberg, and many others like them whose works have changed the way we view our world and live our lives. Why today? Because April 26 marks World Intellectual Property Day, the annual celebration commemorating the formation of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1970.
This year’s theme — visionary innovators — recognizes the unique and valuable contributions made by gifted individuals all over the world. Without innovation, civilizations remain static. The economist Robert Solow was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1987 for showing that technological innovation was responsible for over 80 percent of economic growth in the United… more »
Protecting America’s Innovative Advantage
![Pirated DVDs and CDs lie on the ground, outskirts of Beijing, April 14, 2007. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2010_0407_pirated_discs_m.jpg)
About the Author: Robert D. Hormats serves as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs.
Today, I published the following op-ed on The Huffington Post with Richard L. Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, and Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness.
Tuesday, April 26, was World Intellectual Property Day. The theme of this year’s celebration — Designing the Future — emphasized the critical role that ideas play in the development of solutions to the challenges of the 21st century, such as combating climate change, enhancing agricultural productivity, and finding cures for medical ailments.
From California’s Silicon Valley to Texas’ Clean Energy Incubator to the Biotech Beltway around Washington, D.C., the United States is the world leader in innovative products and services. The continued… more »
