- Home
- Intellectual Life
- Information Society Project
- Conferences
- A2K3 2008
- Panels
- Alternatives to Monopolies: Prizes
Alternatives to Monopolies: Prizes
Alternatives to Monopolies: Prizes
Confirmed Speakers
Bard Geesaman, X-Prize Foundation
Erika Duenas, Embassy of Bolivia in Washington D.C. (invited)
Pierre Chirac, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF)
Moderating: James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
Wednesday, 10 September 14h00 - 15h30
It is today widely recognized that the current approach to rewarding the development of essential new knowledge goods, such as medicines and diagnostic devices, has major deficiencies. Patent enforced monopolies often lead to high prices. In the case of medicines, the system’s critics also argue that relying on such monopolies focuses too much investment in products that do not offer significant improvements over existing therapies, and often fails to stimulate investments in areas of public interest and priority. There are now different efforts aimed at addressing the current systems deficiencies. One such initiative is the effort at the World Health Organization (WHO) to implement a global strategy and plan of action for essential health research, which would address the question of complementary and alternative incentive mechanisms including those that address the linkage between the cost of research and development (R&D) and the price of medicines. However, such initiatives are not limited to the area of health. There are initiatives in a host of other areas including increasing focus on the climate change related technologies.
Consequently, governments, donors and businesses are increasingly being asked to consider prizes as a viable alternative to marketing monopolies as the reward for successful investments in R&D. This panel will examine and debate the importance, viability and challenges in implementing a prize-based system of rewarding innovation with a special focus on health and climate change.The questions to be addressed will include:
- Should prizes be thought of as an alternative reward system or as a compliment to the existing exclusive rights system?
- In which ways might prizes work more efficiently (in terms of delivering better innovation and assuring access to the results of R&D while supporting follow-on innovation) as compared to the current patent system?
- Concretely, how would a prize system work in the areas of health and climate change?
- Where should the money for prizes come from, and will the prospect of prizes be credible?
- What global infrastructure and institutions are needed to manage an international prize-based system?
