ECOSF participated in the UNESCO expert meeting on Open Science and Intellectual Property Rights

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Recognizing the ongoing policy challenge to balance openness and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) protection, UNESCO organized an expert meeting to discuss the relationships between IPRs and Open Science on April 23, 2021. The objective of this meeting was to present different existing instruments and mechanisms that reconcile ownership and sharing/openness, and to exchange on balanced IPRs and Open Science policies and strategies. On behalf of ECOSF, President Soomro participated in the meeting.

This online meeting was part of a series of actions aiming to build a global consensus on Open Science and developing an international standard-setting instrument in the form of a UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.

The Recommendations put forwarded during the meeting defined the shared values and principles for Open Science and identification of concrete measures on Open Access and Open Data, with proposals to bring society closer to science and commitments to facilitate the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge worldwide.

After considering the comments from the Member States and partners on the first draft of the recommendation, a revised draft has been transmitted by the Director General of UNESCO to Member States (available online) and will be negotiated by Member States at an intergovernmental meeting in May 2021.