Democratic ownership of IP and R and D directly challenges corporate power, channels innovation into social goods and facilitates workers’ rights, tax justice, and consumer protections

As countries grapple with the devastating challenges of COVID-19 and we, hopefully, move closer towards the development of a vaccine, the injustices and insufficiencies of the current approach to IP and R&D are becoming increasingly apparent. It is imperative that we quickly move away from the current system that prioritizes corporate profits sourced from monopoly rights to one that values and centers public health, social equality, and ecological sustainability.

The design, implementation, and governance of our IP and R&D systems are critically important. However, the incredible rise of the intangible economy has dramatically altered these systems and our wider economic landscape. Rather than stimulating and supporting the innovation needed to power the 21st-century digital economy, the enclosure of ownership of creations of the mind has been capitalized on to generate vast profits and considerably increase the power and control of a small group of large corporations and their owners. This has resulted in a series of adverse consequences, from languishing innovation to exacerbating racial, economic, gender, and geographic inequality, to reducing competition, to abusive corporate practices related to workers’ rights, tax justice, and consumer protections. In sum, it is becoming increasingly clear to observers from across the political spectrum that the current approach to IP and R&D is not fit for purpose.

Were our IP and R&D systems to be transformed, they could be harnessed for the common good and to build an equitable, democratic, and environmentally sustainable future for all. Extending principles of democratic ownership is key to this transformation.