Intellectual Property and Opportunities for Food Security in the Philippines

By 2050, the Philippine population is projected to increase by as much as 41 percent, from 99.9 million to nearly 153 million people. Producing enough food for such an expanding population and achieving food security remain a challenge for the Philippine government. This paper argued that intellectual property rights (IPR) can play a key role in achieving the nation’s current goal to be food-secure and provided examples to illustrate that the presence of sound intellectual property (IP) helps foster research, development, and deployment of agricultural innovations. This paper also offered key recommendations about how the IP system can be further leveraged to enable access, creation, and commercialization of new and innovative agricultural practices and technologies to enhance the nation’s agricultural productivity, meet rice self-sufficiency, and sustain food security

An Evaluation of Researcher Motivations and Productivity Outcomes in International Collaboration and Partnerships at a U.S. Research-Intensive University

This paper examines factors that influence faculty at a research-intensive U.S. public land grant university to engage in international collaborations and partnerships. Using a mixed-mode (web, mail, and telephone) survey, we collected data from 764 researchers at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA, to provide a baseline and current context of demographic characteristics, motivations, barriers, and academic outcomes in relation to international research collaboration. Our results suggest that funding, reduced organizational and institutional barriers, effective institutional support, previous global experience, and research outcomes can encourage faculty to engage in international collaboration. We also found that faculty involved in international collaboration, on average, exhibited higher productivity and a positive correlation with scholarly output, especially through joint publications and student training. The results of this study may provide a reference for research-intensive institutions interested in optimizing their internationalization agendas through partnerships, and examining their policies, strategies, and messaging to increase faculty engagement in collaborative research that promotes co-creation, reciprocity, mutually beneficial partnership, and organizational transformation

An Analysis of the Implications of Strengthened Intellectual Property Rights to Agriculture of Developing Countries and Responses of Selected Public Research Institutions in Southeast Asia

Better understanding of intellectual property rights (IPR) is indispensable to informed policy making in all areas of development, including agriculture - the backbone of economy of majority of developing countries. For this reason, IPR and its impact to the future of agriculture in developing countries should gain priority in public discussions. As a contribution to the IPR debate, this dissertation analyzed the implications of the expansion of IPR to agricultural development, and determined how public agricultural research in developing countries has responded to the concept of IPR and its developments. Specifically, this dissertation reviewed the interaction of IPR, the WTO-TRIPS Agreement, and agriculture, and demonstrated through empirical analysis that the expansion of IPR in agriculture can positively impact agricultural development not only of developed countries, as critics would claim, but also of developing countries. Second, initially focusing on five developing countries in Asia, this research demonstrated that public R&D institutions in this region have good knowledge on the concept of IPR, its features, and tradeoffs, and have started to build their institutional IP management structures and procedures to cope with IPR issues. Interestingly, this research found that research managers and scientists in these countries do not find IPR as a constraint to access proprietary technologies and research products they need to continue doing research. These attitudes of the public sector personnel on the implications of IPR on access, along with research generation, and technology transfer are found associated with their socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., education, position, and country of citizenship). Based on all these findings, this dissertation offers some recommendations that can open the door to transformative change among developing countries and their public research institutions to efficiently respond to the challenges, and opportunities of managing and exploiting IPR

NARES Capacity in Relation to International Treaties and Conventions on Intellectual Property Rights, Agricultural Biotechnology, and Plant Genetic Resources Management

Significant developments in the scientific front and international policy arena have affected the use and exchange of genetic resources, and the management of intellectual property. These developments are now reshaping public agricultural research and development (R&D) in developing countries, especially in the access, generation, and dissemination of research outputs. Three of the most important international treaties and conventions that are important in this context are the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO-TRIPS), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Already, majority of the developing countries are signatories to these treaties and could be expected to exploit them for their own advantage. On the other hand, non-member countries, despite their non-participation, must find alternative scenarios to be able to effectively address issues concerning IPR, agricultural biotechnology, and plant genetic resources. As the main source of innovation in public agricultural research, national agricultural research extension systems (NARES) need to be enlightened on the various aspects of these treaties and agreements and the impact on their respective research and extension activities. It may be necessary, for example, to tailor capacity-building initiatives on the IPR, agbiotech, and PGR aspects of international treaties to specific countries or regions since policy and enforcement mechanisms among NARES vary according to the availability of human and logistical resources, research priorities, and technology transfer objectives. This paper takes a look at the critical aspects of TRIPS, CBD, ITPGRFA, and other agreements, and studies their implications on public agbiotech R&D among NARS; compares initiatives by several Asian developing countries to comply with the provisions of these treaties and agreements; highlights PhilRice’s initiatives to help its national government comply with its obligations under these treaties; and assesses and recommends a plan of action on the capacity-building of NARES institutions on IPR, agbiotech, and PGR management

Enforcing TRIPS in Asia: The Implications for Agricultural Trade and Development, and an Agenda for Effective Compliance

In accordance with its mandate to ensure the production and trade of better and competitively priced goods and services around the world, the World Trade Organization has to enforce several multilateral agreements, one of which is that on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Geared towards protecting the intellectual property rights (IPR) of inventors and authors on goods traded worldwide, TRIPS sets minimum standards of IPR protection, which member countries can legislate. Due to the difficulty in estimating the impact of TRIPS on agriculture, it has spawned spirited debates among its proponents and critics since its implementation in 1995. Unfortunately, the bases of arguments from both sides about the impact of TRIPS on global goods trade in general, and on agricultural trade in particular, have been anecdotal. Although some economists have tried to develop models to analyze the impact of TRIPS on trade, their findings have been inconclusive. The same holds true as well with respect to the expected impact of TRIPS on agricultural trade and development. This paper examines the legal provisions of TRIPS and their implications on Asian agricultural trade and development. It also discusses other issues—not addressed by TRIPS but attributed to it, such as agriculture R&D, “bio-piracy”, traditional knowledge and folklore, and plant breeder’s rights—whose links to TRIPS have not been established by evidence, or are, at best, anecdotal. Documenting a specific application of TRIPS, the paper highlights the experience of the Philippines in the testing and commercialization of Bt corn, an agricultural biotechnology product developed and commercialized after TRIPS had gone into effect. The Philippine Bt corn experience provides some evidence that TRIPS and agricultural biotechnology—given the conducive environment of TRIPS compliant domestic IPR laws, bio-safety policy regulations, information and education campaigns, and research and development—can have a positive impact on agricultural trade and development, even in a developing and agricultural country like the Philippines. Based on the analysis of the current impact of TRIPS on Asian agricultural trade and development, and the Bt corn experience of the Philippines, the paper proposes an Asian agenda for member countries, by which they can effectively deal with, and benefit from TRIPS

Mapping Collaborations and Partnerships in SDG Research

Collaboration has become an essential paradigmin sustainable development research and in strategies for meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study uses bibliometric methods and network analysis to examine research output and collaboration supporting the SDGs and explores means to detect and analyze research collaboration beyond the traditional definition of multiple, one-time co-authorship. We employed two additional lenses of collaboration: repeat collaboration and collaboration time point to quantify and visualize co-authorship data sourced from Microsoft Academic Graph. Our results show an increased collaboration rate over time at the author and institutional levels; however they also indicate that the majority of collaborations in SDGrelated research only happened once. We also found out that on average, repeat collaboration happens more frequently, but after a longer duration, at the institutional level than at the author level. For this reason, we further analyzed institutions and identified core institutions that could help influence more consistent collaboration and sustain or grow the SDG-related research network. Our results have implications for understanding sustainable partnerships in research related to SDGs and other global challenges

Transforming Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture through Agribusiness Innovation

Agribusiness offers promising opportunities to accelerate Africa’s agricultural sector development, increase food security, address poverty, youth employment and drive agriculture-led economic growth. This desk research offers a snapshot of the agribusiness activities in Africa with emphasis on the contribution of higher education institutions that are members of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and selected public universities in Ghana. Our review shows that agribusiness yet in its infancy is gaining traction and longer-term prospects are promising based on initial success and encouraging outcomes in some countries. Various initiatives are taking place in the region, including agribusiness incubation; capacity building, education, and agribusiness knowledge transfer programs at different levels. Partnerships among stakeholders such as government, international groups and private sectors are also growing to boost and encourage better value chain management for agriculture across the African continent. A few RUFORUM university members are setting up the pace in terms of investments to nurture agricultural entrepreneurs through curriculum enhancement; intellectual property and technology transfer policies, and technology commercialization models for conventional and modern technologies through business incubation parks and spin-off companies. Some of the successes and milestones in agribusiness development have yet to happen in many RUFORUM members and in public universities in Ghana. Drawing upon published reports, scholarly articles, and our primary analysis, we highlight several key actions and recommendations that can inform policy and practice to expand and sustain the growth trajectory of agribusiness as a new developmental platform for Afric

For code and data reproducibility on CADRE

Collaboration has become an essential paradigm in sustainable development research and in strategies for meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study uses bibliometric methods and social network analysis to examine research output and collaboration supporting the SDGs and explores means to detect and analyze research collaboration beyond the traditional definition of multiple, one-time co-authorship. We employed two additional lenses of collaboration: repeat collaboration and collaboration time point to quantify and visualize co-authorship data sourced from Microsoft Academic Graph. Our results show an increased collaboration rate over time at the author and institutional levels; however, also indicate that the majority of collaborations in SDG-related research only happened once. We also found out that on average, repeat collaboration happens more frequently, but after a longer duration, at the institutional level than at the author level. For this reason, we further analyzed institutions and identified core institutions that could help influence more consistent collaboration and sustain, or grow, the research network for SDG-related research. Our results have implications for understanding sustainable partnerships in research related to SDGs and other global challenges.The authors wish to acknowledge CADRE https://iuni.iu.edu/resources/datasets/cadre and its faculty and staff for granting access to curated MAG data and the opportunity to connect with its network and experts on bibliometric data. This work uses Microsoft Academic Graph data by Microsoft Research provided by the Indiana University Network Science Institute. We would also like to acknowledge MSU AgBioResearch and CANR Office of Research Support for their support to open access publishing and providing funds so this work can be widely distributed