2017 WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DAY WAS CELEBRATED ON APRIL 26TH
On April 26, 2017 Ladas and world celebrated World Intellectual Property Day. World Intellectual Property Day, is a day which recognizes and salutes all those individuals across cultures and borders whose innovations and creations advance our world for the better.
Since 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has organized events around the globe on World IP Day to celebrate the cross-cultural collaboration efforts of innovators by promoting a general understanding of intellectual property law through discourse and interactive events.
This year, the World IP Day theme was: Innovation – Improving Lives, which considers the empowering role that IP rights serve in promoting innovation and spurring creativity. The day sought to honor those innovators around the world who, instead of being threatened by a problem, embrace it, and craft resourceful solutions which eventually make the world a better place for us all. The conversation focused on the foundational roles intellectual property law plays with innovation, promoting progress and driving economic growth, where copyright, trademark, and patent rights encourage innovators with monetary value in exchange for access to their ideas for tomorrow’s innovators to build upon.
In 2016, the world was introduced to new ideas and inventions that address a wide range of issues, from climate change and alternative forms of energy to food shortage and advancing medical technologies. Some of these wonderful innovations include:
The Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato
The International Potato Center (CIP) and Harvestplus developed a new type of sweet potato to address the rampant vitamin A deficiency suffered by children in sub-Saharan Africa, leaving them vulnerable to blindness and diseases like malaria. By cross-breeding locally grown sweet potatoes with versions rich in vitamin A, the new type of potato is genetically altered to get better at addressing the deficiency over time.
Artificial Pancreas
The MINIMED® 670g, developed by Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., was recently approved by the FDA. The device is intended to replace the current burdensome process of manually checking sugar levels for people with diabetes. *Patents pending.
Edible Utensils
In an effort to address plastic waste, the Indian company Bakey’s created cutlery which is 100% natural, and edible too. It is made of flours, rice and wheat, and contains no chemicals. *Patent pending.