Democratic ownership is key. It’s the only way to ensure that IP and R and D are focused on producing social goods.

Given their inherently political nature and central role in the economic system, 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. From the creation of a public knowledge commons, to substantially increasing public R&D funding, to embedding global solidarity and reparations, to challenging corporate power, to bolstering workers’ rights, we have the power to reimagine management of creations of the mind. Through increasing public R&D investment to 2% or more of national GDP, we can significantly boost innovation to address the many intersecting crises and challenges we now face (and are likely to face as the century progresses), and channel that investment to stimulate innovations that benefit society, promote equality, and create environmental reliance and an ecologically sustainable economy. This investment would be supported by a new ecosystem of institutions, such as local, regional, and national publicly owned investment banks, as well as approaches to provide a foundation through which alternative models of ownership can flourish to challenge corporate power. In place of inefficient tax giveaways, incentives, and subsidies, we should develop a mission orientated approach to ensure that innovations are geared toward tackling today’s intersecting crises, safeguarded by strong regulations and the mandate for proactive public intervention and economic planning. At the heart of this strategy is the need to significantly grow the public stake in IP, by reorienting the role of the state from a laissez faire and crony capitalist approach to one inherently involved in shaping the production and distribution of innovations. This should be done first and foremost through the development of a publicly owned and democratically governed IP commons to redirect revenue generated from patents back into the public purse (and back into further investments in innovation), rein in and reshape corporate behaviour by safeguarding workers’ rights and preventing tax abuse and loopholes, stimulate innovation, and promote equality. This would be complemented by the creation of publicly owned, and democratically governed venture capital funds at various levels of governance to provide investment (in return for appropriate ownership stakes) in start-up ventures and highly innovative enterprises. As the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated, we particularly need to explore pioneering ways to reverse the stagnation in the development of needed medical products, control drug prices, and bring about universal access to medicines, clawing back the power and control exerted over this vital sector from big pharmaceutical companies. In place of corporate capture and control over lifesaving and life-prolonging medicines, we need publicly directed, accountable, and owned pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and distribution entities to not only regulate pricing in the US and UK but provide access to medicines throughout the world through technological transfers. Indeed, from COVID-19 to the climate crisis to rampant social and economic inequality, the interwoven crises we face today are international in their nature. Moreover, the US and UK in particular must acknowledge and actively redress the incredible harm they have wrought on much of the rest of the world, especially the Global South, through colonialism, enslavement, imperialism, and the ongoing process of wealth and knowledge extraction. A reparative approach in general, and technological transfers in particular, must thus go far beyond simply making prices more affordable and products more available in the Global South. Instead, any new approach to IP and R&D must center a comprehensive shifting of rights and control by transferring certain IP, removing IP restrictions on various critical innovations and making them available to all, and overhauling the pro-corporate, pro-enclosure IP rules and systems that predominate in international free trade agreements and international institutions. IP and R&D systems and approaches are critical to the functioning of any economic system, and despite decades of privatization, enclosure, and corporate capture, they are still, largely, within our ability to reimagine and redesign. By applying principles of democratic public ownership and control, we can, and must, turn these systems into engines that power an equitable, democratic, and sustainable 21st century economy.