A previous post, written by guest blogger Tim Stirrup, discussed the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) WIPO GREEN platform, an initiative that recently launched after operating for a while in pilot and test mode.
WIPO GREEN helps to match green technology innovators with commercialization partners by providing an interactive marketplace including a searchable database and a service network. Innovators can upload their green technologies into the database and make contact with potential partners via the network to explore potential licensing or partnership agreements.
The database also enables users to input specific green technology needs with calls to innovators to meet those needs with environmentally sound technologies.
The service network component of the initiative facilitates partnerships through a list of partners and descriptions of their businesses, a registry of service provides, and a list of potential funding sources.
According to WIPO’s article on the launch, the pilot and testing phase saw about 1,000 uploads of green technologies, inventions and patents into the database, and the program has 35 partners including the Association of University Technology Managers, the East Africa Climate Innovation Network, and the Japan Intellectual Property Association.
Licensing of any intellectual property relating to the green technologies is governed by individually negotiated agreements between the parties involved.
Giving the WIPO GREEN database a brief spin reveals 548 hits in the alternative energy production category, 263 in waste management, 112 in energy conservation, and 29 in transportation.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said the organization’s ”growing network of partners and innovative collaborations with major global technology databases” should further its goal, i.e., ”for WIPO GREEN to become a go-to-platform for green technologies” and facilitate the role of “innovative green technologies . . . in addressing climate change.”
Eric Lane is a patent attorney at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in San Diego and the author of Green Patent Blog. Mr. Lane can be reached at elane@mckennalong.com
