Today we celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day to praise the invaluable contributions made by innovators across the globe. Since the dawn of time, mankind has applied innovation to solve problems and live better, healthier and more plentiful lives. Apart from human creativity and passion, IP has been one of the most powerful forces fostering innovation – allowing knowledge to be created and disseminated at an unprecedented scale.

It is very difficult to imagine how today’s knowledge economy could exists if all the secrets of innovations were still kept behind closed doors. However, among all challenges innovators face preventing and treating diseases is probably the biggest one you can imagine. Our body is a fascinating complex mechanism constantly challenged with new diseases. But thanks to people who believe and nurture innovation every year many lives are saved. Imagine just one example – thanks to medicines and vaccines at least 3 million deaths from malaria are avoided and 750,000 children saved from disability every year.

I encourage you to watch this short video to understand how innovation in the pharmaceutical sector has dramatically changed our lives but also what fascinating future, as usually combined with challenges, lies ahead of us in combating old and new diseases.

Author

• 
  Guilherme Cintra Director, Innovation Policy g.cintra@ifpma.org