WIPO GREEN connects climate change problems with sustainable solutions. Japanese companies and the JPO are major funders and Partners of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Green. Announced in July, 2022, The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) became the latest technology partner in the global green-technology platform of WIPO GREEN. The Press Release is here and the WIPO Green website here is full of excellent Green related resources including WIPO GREEN’s catalogue of environmental problems & solutions.
Japan has played a leading role in Green Patent Technology promotion and sharing – in Japan and globally. In particular, via WIPO GREEN and another global initiative that includes participating Intellectual Property Offices (IPO) in IPO GREEN, both initiated and funded by the JPO. This article focuses on WIPO Green – the source materials being WIPO and the JPO.
WIPO GREEN is defined by WIPO as, an interactive marketplace that connects technology and service providers with those seeking innovative solutions, was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2013. WIPO GREEN traces its origins to WIPO’s discussions with the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) and other industry partners, who were keen to establish a mechanism that would inject transparency into green technology markets, particularly for developing countries. A pilot database of green technologies available for license or sale was established by WIPO in 2012, which was followed by the formal launch of WIPO GREEN and its network in November 2013.
The USPTO introduces WIPO GREEN as: “a public-private partnership established by WIPO in 2013. Its 145 international partners include major technology companies, intellectual property (IP) offices, business groups, research institutes, and nongovernmental organizations. The partnership provides an online platform for technology exchange, connecting providers and seekers of environmentally friendly technologies, and organizes acceleration projects, conferences, and international events that highlight the availability of green technologies.”
As noted, the JPO was already a WIPO GREEN Partner, in fact it was one of the founders, and with this announcement, the USPTO joins Japan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Japan, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, and Switzerland.
Additional Details
WIPO GREEN. A Database of Innovative Technologies and Needs
An introductory video outlines why Green Technology Innovators should utilize WIPO Green. At the heart of WIPO Green is its database, which it further describes as follows: “The WIPO GREEN database is a free, solutions oriented, global innovation catalogue that connects needs for solving environmental or climate change problems with sustainable solutions.
The database consists of user uploads of needs and solutions, green technology patents from the WIPO Patentscope database, imports from select partner organizations, and relevant knowledge material. AI-assisted auto-matching, user uploads tracing and alerts, full-text search for solutions based on long need descriptions, and the Patent2Solution search function for finding commercial applications of a patent, are some of the unique features of the database. Free registration is required for detailed record view and uploading.”
The website offers up a variety of resources such as publications, impact studies, various reports, etc. There are also a variety of scheduled seminars / webinars on all aspects of IP rights in the Green sector
Information on becoming a Partner, and profiles of current Partners are available in the Partners section of the site.
Summary Comment
Kimura & Partners’ focus is on SMEs and helping SMEs win in the IP Battleground. WIPO GREEN connects climate change problems with sustainable solutions. We see the WIPO GREEN, IPO GREEN and the GXTI as useful resources for all companies, including SMEs in developing and improving their IP and business strategy. So we also expect WIPO GREEN to be a valuable resource in helping us guide clients, and their IP and business strategies. WIPO GREEN’s catalogue of environmental problems & solutions, specifically should be very useful.
