[p2p-research] Finally arrived: Global Innovation Commons

[Franz Nahrada]

How hard is it to set our Order Parameter on Open Innovation? To share all
knowledge and inventions that we make and receive back an incredible
amount of possibilities? 
I remember reading stories from Vinai Gupta and others that there is an
imminent danger that Going Open is the best way for an inventor to face
failure and misery. Although many people do lip service to Open
Innovation, the reality seems to be hard to deal with - swimming against
the current.

With the advent of Global Innovation Commons all this could get easier
now, and maybe this single endavour can help us structure and connect many
others. I read the website, I read the users manual and I feel there could
be enough substance to really change the rules of the game. They finally
come up with a distributed approach - in the light of this claim that they
have already 290 incubators, a network of 290 incubators in over 80
developing countries around the world, a lot seems possible:

http://www.globalinnovationcommons.org/

"What would happen if you were given over $2 trillion? That's right, if
someone walked up to you and gave you $2 trillion. That could never
happen, right?

In fact, that is exactly what has just happened.

While the patent system has been around since the 17th century when it was
developed by nobles in Italy and England, it may surprise you that the
system was designed to benefit you. Patents were supposed to be a public
disclosure to advance science and useful knowledge. If someone shared
sufficient information to teach the public about a novel development or
useful technology, they would have a limited time (about 20 years) to
decide who could use that idea.

There's some bad news and some good news. 

First, the bad news: For the past 30 years, patents have been abused.
Rather than serving the public's expansion of knowledge, they've been used
as business and legal weapons. Over 50,000,000 patents covering everything
you do have served to keep you from benefiting in many aspects of your
life. Many life-saving treatments have been kept from the market because
they threaten established business interests. The world's ecosystem has
been severely damaged because efficiencies have been kept from entering
the market.

In the face of all this, however, there is the good news: The thirty year
"cold war" of innovation is over. Today, you now have access to it all. In
the Global Innovation Commons, we have assembled hundreds of thousands of
innovations - most in the form of patents - which are either expired,
no-longer maintained (meaning that the fees to keep the patents in force
have lapsed), disallowed, or unprotected in most, if not all, relevant
markets. This means that, as of right now, you can take a step into a
world full of possibilities, not roadblocks. You want clean water for
China or Sudan - it's in here. You want carbon-free energy - it's in here.
You want food production for Asia or South America - it's in here.

But here's the catch. We're sharing this under a license. The license is
really simple. If you use this information, you must share what you're
doing with everyone else. If you improve upon it, you must share your
improvements with everyone else. And finally, if you use any of this
information, you must reference the "Global Innovation Commons." That's
it. When you take the next step, turn the possibilities into realities."

and furthermore

"About infoDev

infoDev will assist in the deployment of the Global Innovation Commons
making the platform available across its network of 290 incubators in over
80 developing countries. infoDev will also investigate the required
supporting resources that entrepreneurs and SMEs in developing countries
require to more effectively use the 'open innovation' information
available on the GIC. This could include access to finance, business
incubation services or technical advice to help entrepreneurs and SMEs
successfully transfer technology out of the GIC system and commercialize
it in their own markets. The GIC will also be used as a platform for
infoDev's Climate Technology Program which is piloting Climate Technology
Innovation Centers in developing countries."

Does anybody have personal connections? How can we work with them? Can
anybody do research?

It sounds REALLY interesting!

Franz