For many developing countries, the promise of innovation-fueled economic growth remains unfulfilled. Even with well-established intellectual property systems in place, few local innovators benefit. Instead, patent grants to foreigners far outnumber those to local applicants, despite a strong local innovative culture.
Patents drive value creation for individual inventors and small enterprises that can help these countries grow. They attract investment. And they provide protection when small firms need to collaborate with third parties to implement their vision. Without access to patents, innovators find themselves at palpable disadvantage in the market. When these inventors cannot compete, we are all deprived of their innovation.
