Intellectual Property Day and the United Nations - A time for global reckoning

In a world where hundreds of Israeli start-ups develop innovative technologies that improve the lives of millions of people, the UN is missing this narrative regarding Israel.

As Israelis, we have a sharp and justified criticism of the conduct of the United Nations and its institutions. The organization's hypocrisy was well illustrated during the "Iron Swords" war and the unilateral decisions made by the Security Council. And yet we have not said a word about the almost demonstrable disregard for the suffering of the abductees, about the lack of sufficient resonance for their stories of sexual abuses—told by them when they returned from captivity—and the lack of disclosure of the atrocities of October 7.

Nevertheless, it should be remembered that the organizations affiliated with the United Nations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), play a vital role in promoting essential goals for the benefit of humanity, in areas such as health, education, development, humanitarian aid, and international cooperation. These organizations play a vital role in the eradication of infectious diseases, in the fight against hunger, and in the protection of children around the world.

One of those organizations is the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which operates on the concept that intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc.) encourages creativity, technological innovation, and business development, which are beneficial to human well-being, the economy, and society.

In preparation for International Intellectual Property Day 2024, which will be held every April 26, WIPO chose to focus on the theme "Intellectual Property and the Sustainable Development Goals: Innovation for a Better Future." This choice emphasizes the close connection between technological innovation, protected by intellectual property, and the achievement of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Those 17 goals, defined in 2015, are designed to lead the world to a better, sustainable future socially, economically, and environmentally. These are very ambitious goals, and they include, among other things, the elimination of poverty, ensuring food security, providing good health and quality education, ensuring gender equality, providing clean energy, reducing inequality, and actions to reduce the climate crisis.

To make an impact - you need to generate business.

One of the characteristics that distinguish Israeli entrepreneurs is a developed business sense and the understanding that in order to make an impact, you need to generate business, and the way to get there goes through the world of intellectual property, which provides protection for innovation, and the creation of intellectual property assets.

As patent attorneys, we have a close view of it, when we accompany many companies that produce technological solutions that have a social impact. Therefore, we can also confidently say that Israel is a significant leader in most of the areas of the goals set by the United Nations, and the examples are many, to our delight. Thanks to Israel's exceptional human capital and the high technological and scientific level, as well as to investment in research and development in terms of GDP, Israel is among the leading countries in the world in the field of R&D and innovation, certainly in relation to the size of the population. All of these generate a lot of intellectual property with enormous economic value.

When it comes to energy, for example, the UN’s definition aims to develop and commercialize clean and renewable energy sources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and deal with climate change by reducing the carbon footprint. An excellent Israeli example is the SGTECH company, whose groundbreaking technology for handling animal waste results in stable renewable energy, rich organic fertilizer, and reusable water for animal and agricultural facilities.

In the field of agriculture, for example, it is possible to mention the cooperative agricultural association Metzerplas, whose factory in Kibbutz Metzer manufactures advanced and unique drip irrigation systems and pipes for conveying water and for agriculture that prevents the waste of the world's most important resource. Stockton is also worth mentioning, a company that develops environmentally friendly biological pesticides in plant protection and saves the world's bananas and other crops.

In the field of foodtech, tangential to agriculture, many companies operate all over the country, with an emphasis on the north and the south, and we all hope that they will soon return to their homes and factories. One of the prominent companies in the field is Fungit Biosolutions, which develops biological solutions to extend the shelf life of agricultural produce, increase agricultural output, and deal with extreme climate situations, all to improve nutritional security and in exact compliance with the 17 UN goals.

In the biomed field, Israel produces solutions that were once considered science fiction. Take, for example, the diagnostics company Imagene AI, which leverages artificial intelligence to create a profile of a wide variety of cancer biomarkers from the biopsy image alone in just a few minutes, producing personalized treatment for cancer patients.

Also in the field of accessibility, Israel is a world leader and creates complete ecosystems for the production of innovation, such as Acotism—an entrepreneurial ecosystem for developing technological solutions to the challenges of autistics and people with disabilities.

Israeli stories are many and exciting, both in terms of the contribution of technological solutions to human hardships and well-being and in the special spirit that pulsates our entrepreneurs. Thus, we in Israel change reality every day and put the UN vision into practice.

The protection of inventions ensures constant innovation.

But these companies are only a sample of dozens, if not hundreds, of Israeli companies and start-ups whose goal is to develop innovative technologies for the benefit of humanity. The entrepreneurs behind those developments are motivated by a deep need to improve the lives of millions of people. This is another expression of the Jewish and universal value of "Tikun Olam" while merging economic interests and humanitarian motives.

A study of those technologies reveals once again how incredible Israeli creativity is and how impressive the innovation capacity of the entrepreneurs is. But for these technologies to successfully pass from the concept stage to the development and production stage, the inventors, entrepreneurs, and investors behind them must be assured that they will be able to be the sole owners of those developments and inventions and be incentivized financially by guaranteeing the economic fruits inherent in them.

This is precisely the role of the intellectual property system. The protection it provides allows companies and inventors to profit from their investment in innovation by providing exclusivity, thereby encouraging the development of new technologies and the sharing of research and technological knowledge. It also promotes technology transfer from academia to industry, where intellectual property licenses and commercial agreements allow companies to collaborate and develop new technologies together.

A lever to create a better world

Intellectual property is an essential tool for promoting technological innovation. It protects innovation, enables the transfer of technology, and helps finance innovation, even one whose primary goal is to do good for the world before fulfilling business goals. Promoting technological innovation contributes to economic growth, improving the quality of life, and developing new technologies for the benefit of humanity.

International Intellectual Property Day 2024 is another opportunity to emphasize the importance of intellectual property for promoting technological innovation and improving the quality of our lives. Through international cooperation and the strengthening of intellectual property systems, we can ensure that technological innovation will be used to achieve the UN's goals for sustainable development and design a better future for all of us.

In conclusion, we can only hope and actively demand that the UN remember to point out this narrative about Israel and recognize our disproportionate contribution in relation to our size to the development of technologies and to making the world a better place.

The authors are patent attorneys and partners in The Luzzatto Group, Israel's oldest intellectual property group, celebrating its 155th anniversary this year. Dr. Esther Luzzatto is the CEO of the group, and Lilach Luzzatto Shukrun is the leading partner in impact fields such as energy, foodtech, medical devices, and more