Innovation and Appropriability, Empirical Evidence and Research Agenda

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have attracted increasing attention both in academic circles as well as in public policy debates over the past decades. This has gone hand-in-hand with their increasing use, particularly (but not only) patents, reforms in the national and international legal frameworks that have resulted in the strengthening of IPRs and the fast growth of sectors in which knowledge, innovation and appropriability play a key role (e.g. biotechnology, information and communication technologies and the cultural industries). Intense debates among researchers have taken place on a wide range of issues, including the reasons for the growing use of IPRs; the impact of the strengthening of IPRs on innovation; the role of IPRs in developing countries; whether there is a need for international harmonization of the laws regulating the matter and the consequences of IPR legislative reforms on poor communities in areas such as health or traditional knowledge.