Ownership of intellectual property (IP) rights has become central to the strategies of innovative companies worldwide, with increasing investment in R&D and the development of global markets driving demand for patents from 800,000 applications in the early 1980s to 1.8 million in 2009, according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
As a result, IP policy has moved to the forefront of innovation policy. The increased focus on knowledge, the focus given to innovation in emerging economies, and the desire to protect inventions abroad are generating a growing demand for IP protection. As a result IP has moved from being a technical topic tended to by small, specialised communities and now plays a central role in corporate strategies and innovation policies.
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