OECD Activities

The OECD has 30 member countries, all of which are committed to democratic government and the market economy. The OECD endeavours to foster good governance and help policy makers respond to the challenges of a global economy.   By issue: Biotechnology Genetic inventions, IPRs and and licensing practices IP and Innovation 1. IPR, Innovation and Economic Performance 2. IP rights and the diffusion of knowledge from public to private sectors 3. The OECD Patent Project 4. Scientific and Technological Policy New Publications   Back to top   Biotechnology The OECD addresses intellectual property issues indirectly through its activities in biotechnology and science and innovation. OECD Conference on Pharmacogenetics and Drug Research There are growing concerns around the safety and efficacy of new and existing drugs, and the falling productivity of the pharmaceutical R&D process. The objectives of this conference, held in Rome from the 17-19 October, 2005, were to consider how to best capture these opportunities. Pharmacogenetics poses a number of challenges for both the industries that develop drugs and associated pharmacogenetic tests and regulatory authorities. The conference aimed to identify what it takes to get the enabling environment right and will discuss current policies and practices. Click here for details. Genetic inventions, IPRs and licensing practices The OECD Science, Technology and Industry Directorate has been looking at the relationship between Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and biotechnology for over 20 years. Its project on Genetic inventions, IPRs and Licensing Practices was launched in March 2001. The purpose of the project is to gather information on the exploitation of patents for genetic inventions, so as to determine whether the patent system is adequately meeting the needs of society. Rather than look at the ethical debate on gene patenting, the project will focus on the impact of gene patenting on the research environment, and whether patenting a gene sequence will restrict the ability of researchers to undertake work in a particular area. There is currently no quantitative data on whether and how often conflicts over patented genes arise, and what interested parties are doing to gain or share access to patented genes. The OECD hopes that this project will enable governments to understand how to ensure access to genetic information. Latest Developments Guidelines for the Licensing of Genetic Inventions Recently, some governments, patient groups and healthcare providers have become concerned about how certain genetic inventions have, in certain circumstances, been licensed and exploited, particularly for diagnostic genetic services in the human health care field. In order to address these concerns, OECD member countries agreed to Guidelines for the Licensing of Genetic Inventions used in health care. The Guidelines set out principles and best practices for those in business, research and health systems who enter into license agreements for genetic inventions used for the purpose of human health care. For more information and to access the Guidelines, click here For further information on activities performed as part of this project, please visit the IPRIA International Developments Archives. Back to top   IP and Innovation 1. IPR, Innovation and Economic Performance The OECD held a High-Level Workshop on IPR in Beijing, China in April, 2004. It was organised in five sessions: IPR Policies, Technology Innovation and Economic Growth: Trends and New Directions for Policy Antitrust Policy and IPR Protection Policy Coherence and Institutional Design of Modern IPR Regimes Enhancing IPR Protection: Special Challenges for Developing Countries Improving Enforcement of IPRs following China's WTO Entry The Conference focused IPR Development in the global economy, with particular emphasis on non-OECD and non-developed countries. To read the report from this workshop, click here. For access to the presentations given throughout the conference, click here. The OECD, along with the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade, held a conference on Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovative SMEs in a Global Economy, from 3-5 June, 2004 in Istanbul. This landmark conference was aimed at encouraging the development of small businesses and harnessing their capacity to boost economic growth. Themes discussed included: Training and education in entrepreneurship; Encouraging more women to become entrepreneurs; Encouraging SMEs to grow internationally; Taking full advantage of information and communication technology and e- commerce; Improving links with large firms and developing "clusters" of companies; Improving international statistics on SMEs; In developing countries, implementing small business strategies within broader poverty reduction programmes. To view The Instanbul Ministerial Declaration on Fostering the Growth of Innovative and Internationally Competitive SMEs, click here. 2. IP rights and the diffusion of knowledge from public to private sectors OECD project on counterfeiting and piracy In response to rising concerns in government and the business community, the OECD has launched a project that will assess the effects of counterfeiting and piracy on economies.  The objective of the project is to improve factual understanding and awareness of the effects that infringements of intellectual property rights, as described and defined in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), have on governments, business and consumers in member countries and non-member economies. The project will be conducted in co-operation with organisations that are active in the counterfeiting/piracy area, including the World Trade Organization, the World Customs Organization, WIPO, Interpol and relevant NGOs. The project will cover infringements of all types of intellectual property rights, as described and defined in the TRIPS Agreement. It will expand on a related project on the economic impact of counterfeiting that was carried out in 1998. In addition to assessing economic effects, the current project will analyse rising concerns over the health, safety and security threats that counterfeit and pirated products pose to consumers. It will review trends and developments and assess what is being done to combat the illicit practices. Click here for more information. For further information on previous OECD activities concerning IPRs and the diffusion of knowledge from public to private sectors, please visit the IPRIA International Developments Archives.   3. The OECD Patent Project Demand for patent-based indicators has been growing steadily over the past decades, both for macro and micro-economic analysis as well as for policy use There is a large variety of published patent statistics, based on different types of patents or on different counting procedures; moreover, patent documents contain various types of information with different meanings. Therefore, the diverse resulting indicators often yield contradictory implications regarding the phenomena they are supposed to reflect. The OECD Secretariat has been engaged in the task of developing an international statistical infrastructure for patents, including databases and methodologies. Such an infrastructure is aimed at improving the comparability and the quality of patent indicators as well as the accessibility of patent statistics, and facilitates the development of a new generation of indicators for policy and research use. The objective is to develop databases that cover patent records from various countries and patent offices, providing the information necessary to calculate new indicators of higher quality and better comparability, based on a common methodology. Selected indicators on patents are available on-line for the following: Patents filed at the EPO Patents granted by the USPTO OECD Triadic Patent Families Several methodological exercises have also been undertaken for providing a standard and transparent framework for international statistical exercises in the field of patents. The following issues are addressed: Rules for counting patent families Patent data for specific technological areas a concordance table between the IPC and international industry classification Indicators on patents citations In order to provide guidance and oversee the progress of the development of the statistical infrastructure, a patent statistics task force was set up, which at present consists of representatives from the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japanese Patent Office (JPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the OECD, the European Commission (DG Research and Eurostat) and the National Science Foundation (US). Related: Compendium of Patent Statistics 2005 This report presents various patent indicators to reflect recent trends in innovative activity across a wide range of OECD and non-OECD countries. To access this document, click here Intellectual property as an economic asset: key issues in exploitation and valuation The European Patent Office, OECD and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour held this conference in Berlin on 30 June and 1 July, 2005. For archived information on this conference from the IPRIA International Developments Archives, click here The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the OECD organised a Workshop on the Use of Patent Statistics, held in Geneva on 11 and 12 October, 2004. Over the past decade there has been a sharp increase in the level of worldwide patent activity. Firms and universities are increasingly using patents as a tool to protect inventions. At the same time, advances in information technology have facilitated the dissemination and analysis of patent data on a large scale. To understand the challenges faced by the suppliers of statistics in meeting these emerging needs, the workshop will focus on both empirical analysis and statistical issues, covering the following themes: spillovers and diffusion of knowledge; value of patents; new ways of using patent data to address policy issues; forecasting patent data; patent statistics and indicators – future developments. To access documents from this meeting, click here. Back to top 4. Scientific and Technological Policy Changing supply and demand for science and technology professionals in a globalized economy OECD countries are concerned that the supply of science and technology graduates is not increasing fast enough to keep up with demand from industry and academia. Evidence of a decline of S&T graduates is mixed in most OECD countries: overall, the supply of graduates continues to rise, although a few countries have seen a decline in specific fields such as chemistry and physics. On April 21, 2005, the OECD Working Group on Steering and Funding of Research Institutions held a workshop to address these issues. For access to documents relating to this workshop, click here. From January 29 to 30, 2004, the OECD Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy met at Ministerial level. In their discussions, Ministers devoted much attention to three issues that are high on the science and innovation policy agendas of OECD countries: 1) promotion of stronger relationships between science and innovation systems, including the changing role of intellectual property rights in stimulating knowledge creation and diffusion; 2) ensuring sustained development of human resources in science and technology; and 3) global-scale issues that call for enhanced international cooperation in science and technology. Amongst other things, ministers concluded that patent regimes play an increasingly complex role in encouraging innovation, diffusing scientific and technical knowledge, and enhancing market entry and firm creation. As such, they should be subject to closer scrutiny by science, technology and innovation policy makers. Other conclusions concerned: industry-science linkages; tertiary education in science and technology; accountability of science and technology policy; access to data from publicly funded research; and international S&T co-operation. For a detailed account of discussion and conclusions from the meeting, click here. Back to top New Publications OECD releases its Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard for 2007 On 25 October 2007, the OECD published the 2007 edition of its Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard. The report, which is published every two years, explores recent developments in OECD member and non-member economies regarding matters relating to science, technology, globalisation and industrial performance. Major findings include: investment in new knowledge, notably in R&D, is now growing in line with gross domestic product; more OECD governments are giving firms tax breaks to encourage innovation while cutting their direct spending on business R&D – two thirds of the 30 OECD member countries offered businesses tax subsidies in 2006 and most have tended to make it more generous over the years; and in most OECD countries foreign affiliates of multinational firms now have a higher share in R&D than in manufacturing activities. For more information, click here OECD releases 2007 Compendium of Patent Statistics On 28 September 2007, the OECD released the 2007 Compendium of Patent Statistics. The Compendium presents various patent indicators to reflect recent trends in innovative activity across various OECD and non-OECD countries, with seven main sections: triadic patent families; patenting at national, regional and international level; patenting in selected technology areas; patents by institutional sectors; patents by regions; international cooperation in inventive activities; and science linkages in technology. To access the Compendium, click here OECD publishes report regarding innovation in the global economy On 6 June 2007, the OECD released a report ‘Staying Competitive in the Global Economy: Moving Up the Value Chain’. The report brings together OECD data on the globalisation of value chains, including the rise of outsourcing/offshoring.  The costs and benefits of globalisation are discussed, with an emphasis on employment and productivity. The report analyses how globalisation impacts the competitiveness of OECD countries, highlighting the need for effective R&D and innovation strategies. For more information, click here OECD ‘Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding’ published In May 2007, the OECD published a set of ‘Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding’. The document is intended to assist governments, research support and funding organisations , research institutions and researchers when trying to improve the international sharing of, and access, to research data. At present, there are major issues inherent in providing international data access, ranging from institutional and managerial issues to legal and policy issues such as the enforcement of IPRs and the protection of privacy. In light of these issues, the Guidelines deal with topics such as legal conformity, protection of intellectual property, interoperability, quality, security, and accountability. To access the Guidelines, click here Globalisation and innovation in the business services sector The OECD has released to the public the ‘Summary Report of the Study on Globalisation and Innovation in the Business Services Sector’. Recently presented to the OECD’s 2007 Ministerial Council Meeting from 15 to 16 May 2007, the report looks at globalisation and innovation in the business services sector. It identifies factors, institutions and policies that affect the delivery of business support services and that could enhance growth prospects more broadly. The report focuses mainly on issues related to productivity, standardisation and regulation, and trade. It also discusses the growing importance of IPRs in the business services sector and states that IPR regimes should ‘provide increased access to knowledge and enable more open forms of innovation’. To access the Summary Report, click here OECD calls on governments to clamp down on counterfeiting Governments should work more closely with companies and strengthen enforcement of IPRs to fight the rising global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods, according to a new OECD report. Based on data from customs seizures in OECD countries, the report titled ‘The Economic Impact of Counterfeiting and Piracy’ estimates that trade in counterfeit and pirated goods across national borders may have totalled around USD 200 billion in 2005. The report makes a number of recommendations to address these issues including: increase enforcement of existing IP laws; further strengthen co-operation between governments and industry to make current policies more effective and help identify new strategies to fight piracy; strengthen criminal penalties to deter criminals and toughen sanctions to more effectively redress the harm caused to IPR holders; and educate consumers to raise public awareness of the growing threat to health and safety of substandard counterfeited products. The report was released in late June 2007. For more information, click here Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2006 released by OECD On 4 December 2006, the OECD released the Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2006.The report provides a review of key trends and developments in science, technology and innovation policy in OECD countries. Among other things, it finds that: By the end of 2006, China will for the first time spend more on research and development (R&D) than Japan and so become the world’s second highest investor in R&D after the US. The US is predicted to remain the world’s leading investor in R&D in 2006, spending just over USD 330 billion. The EU-15, which includes France, Germany and the UK, is predicted to spend just over USD 230 billion in 2006; The total number of globally important patents originating from non-OECD economies is small compared to the OECD total, but the numbers have grown rapidly in recent years. In 1991, Brazil, China, India and South Africa accounted for 0.15% of the total share; by 2002 this had increased to 0.58% of the total; and Policy has yet to catch up with the globalisation of innovation. To date, policies have largely been ad hoc and aimed at specific problems, such as inward investment. Few countries have worked out how to adapt national policy frameworks to today’s more global innovation system but small, open economies, such as Finland and Ireland, appear to be leading the way. For more information, click here STI Working Paper 2006/5: Valuation and Exploitation of Intellectual Property A Working Paper for the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry titled ‘Valuation and Exploitation of Intellectual Property’ dated 30 June 2006 is now available. The Working Paper examines the broadening set of channels through which firms seek to exploit their IP and reviews macroeconomic statistics related to the development of technology markets. It also examines approaches to the valuation of patents and the policy initiatives undertaken by OECD countries to foster patent valuation and exploitation. To access the Working Paper, click here Report on Digital Music: Opportunities and Challenges Broadband access is now starting to lead to innovative creation and use of content and stimulating the rise of new technologies in PC and consumer electronics. These trends have lead to the rapid creation of online music services. Unauthorised sharing of copyrighted works and new commercial digital delivery possibilities have thus far been a disruptive technology for the music industry. But the availability of online technologies opens up possibilities for content created by network users. Music is thus an area in which the transformative impact of digital distribution, file-sharing and new online business models is strong for both the supply side (artists and the music industry) and on the demand side (new music lifestyles, users as content creators). This study is part of the OECD Project on Digital Broadband Content. To access this study, click here. A Framework for Biotechnology Statistics This new framework is intended to provide the basis for statistical compilation work within OECD member countries and those non-member countries wishing to adopt the standards. To access this document, click here. Research and Development Statistics (formerly Science and Techology Statistics): 2004 Edition This edition of Research and Development Statistics (RDS) provides a wide range of recent data on the resources devoted to R&D in all OECD countries. The statistical series start from 1981 and cover, inter alia, expenditures by source of funds, type of costs, R&D personnel by occupation and level of qualification. Data are detailed at a national level by performance sector, for enterprises by industry, and for higher education and private non-profit by field of science. Click here for more information. Compendium of OECD activities related to IPR The OECD is carrying out numerous activities related to intellectual property rights (IPR). This document, dated February 2006, provides an overview of ongoing and recently completed work. Topics include IPR, innovation and economic performance, IP management in public research organisations, and patent statistics. To access this document, click here. Compendium of Patent Statistics 2005 This report presents various patent indicators to reflect recent trends in innovative activity across a wide range of OECD and non-OECD countries. To access this document, click here For summaries of other recent OECD publications, please visit the IPRIA International Developments Archives. Back to top