Innovation news from around the world
Protecting against intellectual property theft
DUBLIN - PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL property (IP) is crucial to encouraging innovation, but piracy and counterfeiting carry serious economic threats, according to Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services.
Speaking in Dublin at an event for World Intellectual Property Day, the former Irish Minister for Finance told an audience that IP is a key competitive asset for Europe.
"The main reason is that through innovation, high-quality design, effective branding and top-quality production, EU companies have the ability to sell products at a premium price. Accordingly, we do not have to compete on price alone."
Innovation, invention and creativity give that advantage, but piracy and counterfeiting threaten to take it away, he said.
"The theft of ideas is big business . . . it is having an increasingly serious effect on our economies," and even raises health and safety issues, McCreevy added, noting past problems with tainted foods and toys, and fake aircraft and car parts.
Last year there was an increase of over 50 per cent in the number of dangerous products recalled and removed from sale in Europe, he said.
Europe needs to take measures to battle piracy that is operating "at an industrial scale". The battle starts with well-supported customs officials at the borders, but Europe also needs strong IP laws.
In addition, industry has a major role to play. "I believe the industry sectors concerned are the best places to lead in this battle. Industry holds the rights concerned and should take the necessary steps to preserve its assets," he said.
"It is industry who should partner with the authorities and provide technical expertise and information enabling the competent authorities to intervene."
Asked about controversial European attempts to introduce new IP laws, especially in the area of software patents and technologies, McCreevy said: "It's not so much changing IP law, as much as enforcing the existing laws. A lot of the lead should be taken by the industry itself."
Some in Europe have argued that IP laws tend to protect the interests of the largest mutlinationals and thus actually dampen down, rather than promote, innovation by smaller European companies.
McCreevy disagrees with this perspective.
"How do we protect the growth of innovation in Europe unless we protect that innovation?" he asked. He said Europe risks a brain drain away to locations that offer strong IP protection.
He said he believed that large, successful companies outside of Europe had achieved their success in good part due to strong protections for their intellectual property. "I'd argue that some of those companies have grown to the size they are because of that protection," said McCreevy.
World Intellectual Property Day meeting was sponsored by William Fry Solicitors. - KARLIN LILLINGTON.
Pharma firms face crisis of negative growth
LONDON - SOME OF the world's biggest pharmaceuticals companies, including GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, face their worst crisis in decades, as their future revenues come under threat from shrinking drug pipelines, competition from generics, and a slew of patent expiries.
"For the first time in history, the industry will have negative growth in 2011," says Alexis de Rosnay, global co-head of healthcare at Lehman Brothers. This is a time-bomb the sector has known about for some time.
Its last big answer, up to about three or four years ago, was to pursue large-scale mergers and acquisitions.
AstraZeneca was created in a £52 billion (€66 billion) deal in 1999. GSK resulted from a £120 billion (€153 billion) deal in 2001. But the megamerger strategy has failed to create value for shareholders. Richard Girling, global co-head of healthcare at Merrill Lynch, says, "The problem is not so much the size of companies but the concentration and reliance on single products."
The pain will be felt acutely over the coming years, as patents expire at an ever-faster pace. In the US alone, drugs collectively worth more than $62 billion (€40 billion) in 2006 sales are due to go off patent during 2008-12, making it easier for rival companies to sell generic versions.
"Big Pharma is looking more honestly at its product pipelines," says John Studzinski, head of M&A at Blackstone. "[They are seeing] many distinct financial characteristics and considering ways to finance and monetise these on the micro-level."
Several large companies have chosen to focus on acquiring biotech companies as a way of counteracting profit erosion; and many have acknowledged that radical changes in research and development divisions are also needed if Big Pharma is to reinvent itself. - LINA SAIGOL
Nintendo owner richest man in Japan
TOKYO - SOARING SALES of Nintendo's Wii game machine have made former Nintendo chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi Japan's richest man, worth €5 billion, Forbes magazine said in its annual rankings.
The net worth of Yamauchi, 80, jumped €1.9 billion in the past year - boosting him from third place to surpass property tycoon Akira Mori, Japan's richest man last year. Nintendo's Wii has outsold rival game machines such as Sony's PlayStation 3 since its launch in 2006. Shares of Kyoto-based Nintendo have more than tripled in the past two years, boosting the value of the company and the fortune of Yamauchi, who owns 10 per cent. - NATHAN LAYNE
Yahoo!, Google discuss deal
SAN FRANCISCO - INTERNET SEARCH engine Google has said it could arrange a partnership with rival Yahoo! in a way that would ease regulators' antitrust concerns. Comments by chief executive officer Eric Schmidt hinted at the chance of a broad deal between the Internet companies after Yahoo! last month ran some of Google's ads next to search results, as part of a two-week test.
The two are exploring a new agreement, people familiar with the talks said early this month. The test gave Yahoo! more options amid takeover talks with Microsoft, Brin told reporters at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, where shareholders gathered for their annual meeting. Microsoft backed out of the discussions at the start of the month. "We believe in companies having choices about their destiny," he said. "We want to support their ability to have choice." An agreement would help Yahoo! boost revenue. Google made as much as 70 per cent more in sales from each internet query at the end of last year.
When asked if Google is still working with Yahoo!, Schmidt said that while the test had ended, the companies are "very friendly". He refused to add any more.
The US Justice Department is reviewing the test, Google said. The Senate Judiciary Committee would examine any formal partnership between Google and Yahoo!.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a May 3rd letter to Yahoo! chief executive Jerry Yang that a Yahoo!-Google partnership would hurt competition and choice in the online advertising market. Such a deal would effectively let Google set prices for key search terms, he said. - JONATHAN THAW
Altnagelvin to get R&D facility
DERRY - THE UNIVERSITY of Ulster (UU) has become a partner in a new €2.5 million R&D facility, bringing together academic, business and clinical expertise on a single site.
The ABC (academic, business and clinical centre) is under construction at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry. University researchers, hospital clinicians and health and life sciences companies will have access to facilities and clinical data when it opens in September 2008.
It's hoped the development will support research and generate commercial opportunities. It will link the university's research to clinical expertise and focus on improving the general health and well-being of the 290,000 people living in the region.The ABC facility is to be managed by the Western Health and Social Care Trust in conjunction with UU and Derry City Council.
Announcing the project, the North's Economy Minister, Nigel Dodds, said: "By sharing knowledge, cutting-edge products and treatments can be brought to market, ensuring local firms are at the forefront of research and development in the growing health and life sciences sector.
"Not only will this project deliver significant economic benefits, but it will profile the quality of the region's knowledge infrastructure and ability to compete in global medical technology markets. It will also ensure continued improvement in healthcare."
Professor Bernie Hannigan, pro-vice-chancellor for research and innovation at UU said: "The ABC facility will be a shining example of what can be achieved when partners have a common goal and work together with mutual trust.
"Ultimately the beneficiaries will be the area's population. Clinically-focused research provides solutions to healthcare needs, and innovative business practices deliver the solutions to people." - MICHAEL McALEER.
UCD sees increase in new inventions
DUBLIN - NOVAUCD, THE Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin, has reported a 35 per cent increase in UCD invention disclosures in its 2007 Annual Report.
The report highlights that UCD researchers submitted 50 invention disclosures during 2007, an increase of 35 per cent compared to 2006 and a 120 per cent increase on 2005.
In 2007, 26 patent applications were filed by UCD for intellectual property, arising from research in life science, engineering, and information and communication technology.
Another eight licence agreements were concluded with a range of companies and four new innovative spin-out companies were incorporated. A total of 130 companies and 190 individuals have now completed NovaUCD's Campus Company Development Programme which has run annually since 1996 and former participants now collectively employ more than 675 people. - MICHAEL McALEER
GLOBAL ICONS - WHEAT
Wheat was one of the first crops domesticated by humans. It continues to be a staple food and a major cash crop for global agribusiness. Amidst ever-tightening supplies and rising food prices, we take a look at the past, present and future of the global wheat market
Just how important is wheat? Wheat is the second-most consumed crop in the world, after rice.
What is happening to global wheat prices? Weather damage to crops in Europe, Australia and Canada and increasing demand from food-importing countries have pushed wheat prices to an all-time high.
How much have prices risen? Between March 2007 and April 2008, wheat prices rose by 130 per cent.
What explains the most recent increase? In April, Kazakhstan, the world's fifth-largest exporter of wheat, restricted exports. Prices are expected to rise again - the Kazakhstan ban, together with restrictions in Russia, Ukraine and Argentina, have closed one-third of the global wheat market.
Why may wheat prices decrease in the near future? Because of high prices on wheat futures markets in 2007, US wheat farmers are planting the world's largest wheat crop in 10 years.
How will they achieve that? High wheat prices will attract extra acreage on farms, likely at the expense of cotton.
- theglobalist.com.
