“Industrial property is not a legal appendix, but an economic infrastructure that enables the transformation of knowledge into productivity and well-being.” This is not a statement made by PONTI & PARTNERS as an firm specialised in intellectual property, but a quote from the prestigious Nobel Prize Committee.
This award is normally closely linked to intellectual property, since many laureates are responsible for protected inventions. For example, this year’s Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry (Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi) or in Physics (John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis) are regular filers before the EUIPO and the PCT.
But this year, the connection has become even stronger thanks to the Nobel Prize in Economics. Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt are the three laureates who, from an academic and scientific perspective, have shown that economies prosper when they create, innovate, disseminate and protect new ideas — a context in which intellectual property plays a leading role.
Aghion and Howitt have focused on a model they call “creative destruction”. Progress and innovation often arise from destruction, and later flourish when aimed at creating new technologies that surpass or replace obsolete ones. Growth is driven by competition. But innovation involves risk and investment that require a legally secure environment and a temporary exclusive return. This is where intellectual property — through patents, trademarks, utility models and designs — serves as the mechanism that balances collective progress with the incentive for innovators. A clear example is the evolution of formats through which we listen to music or watch films: from VHS, to CDs, to MP3 devices and now streaming.
Mokyr, an economic historian, has instead focused on the cultural context, where IP also plays a central role. As he pointed out, sustained global economic growth stems from a belief in progress. This cultural condition, along with scientific knowledge, enabled continuous growth, especially after the Industrial Revolution. And achieving and maintaining such growth requires institutions that foster and promote knowledge, and that protect those who take the risk of innovating.
The conclusion drawn from the work of all these scholars is that protecting innovation through the legal mechanisms of industrial property is the incentive needed for economic actors to take the risk of innovating, fuelling the cycle of creative destruction and driving technological advancement.
This prize highlights the value of the various actors involved in the complex industrial property system, and underscores the vital role that intangible protection plays in long-term economic growth and sustained progress.
Intellectual property as a geopolitical tool
It is not only companies and organisations that understand the importance of innovating and protecting intangible assets in order to stand out from competitors. The weight of IP goes much further and today plays a significant role in national policy. It has become a matter of State. Countries such as the United States or South Korea are making substantial changes to their legislation to strengthen and reinforce their current IP systems. The Asian country, for example, has elevated its Patent Office to the rank of Ministry of Intellectual Property.
These countries, along with others such as Japan, reaffirm their geopolitical positioning through their technological capabilities. This potential is reflected in indicators such as the number of patents filed. And, in turn, this number reflects the innovative capacity of a country and its economic strength in cutting-edge technological sectors.
Which is why it is important to end as we began: “intellectual property is not a legal appendix, but an economic infrastructure that enables the transformation of knowledge into productivity and well-being.”
