Plant Sciences, Patents and Food Security

Plant sciences have a great potential for the improvement of food and cash crops in tropical countries. However, how do intellectual property rights (TRIPS/UPOV) and international policies influence the use of plant biotechnology for development in tropical countries? Are there sufficient incentives to invest in the improvement and commercialization of orphan crops? Can access to new technologies in plant breeding be ensured through open innovation platforms? Who should be in charge of skill and knowledge transfer for agricultural innovation in tropical countries?
In this panel discussion we address these great challenges from different angles, with insights and perspectives from different experts.

Experts:
Prof. em. Chris Leaver
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
Founding trustee «Sense about Science» and senior science advisor « Biosciences for farming in Africa» (www.b4fa.org)

Jayashree Watal
Counselor in the Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization WTO
Co-editor of Handbook on the WTO TRIPS Agreement (Cambridge University Press, 2012)

Karin Nichterlein
Agricultural Research Officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization FAO
Member of the FAO based Secretariat of the Tropical Agriculture Platform TAP, a G20
Initiative to promote capacity development for agricultural innovation in tropical countries

Moderation:
Guillaume Lacavé, Sofia Nobre and Arianna Nigro – PhD fellows of the Marie Curie Actions research fellowship program - IDP BRIDGES financed by the European Union under grant agreement no PITN-GA-2013-608422

Dr. Philipp Aerni, Director, Center for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability CCRS, at the
University of Zurich

Foto: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Source: flickr.