IP Australia and the Future of Intellectual Property
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Delivering a world leading IP system IP Australia and the Future of Intellectual Property Megatrends, scenarios and their strategic implications JULY 2017 Citation Attribution IP Australia (2017) IP Australia and the future of intellectual The CC BY licence is a standard form licence agreement that property: Megatrends, scenarios and their strategic implications. allows you to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or Canberra: IP Australia. format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material, on the condition that you provide a link to the licence, you indicate if changes were made, and you attribute the material as follows: Copyright Licensed from the Commonwealth of Australia under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. All content in this publication is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ with the exception of: Important disclaimer • the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, IP Australia and CSIRO advise that the information contained in • IP Australia’s corporate logo this publication comprises general statements based on scientific • photographs of our staff and premises research. The reader is advised and needs to be aware that such • content provided by third parties – including information may be incomplete or unable to be used in any photographs, logos, drawings and written specific situation. No reliance or actions must therefore be made descriptions of patents and designs on that information without seeking prior expert professional, scientific and technical advice. To the extent permitted by law, IP Australia and CSIRO (including its employees and consultants) Third party copyright exclude all liability to any person for any consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs, expenses and any IP Australia has made all reasonable efforts to: other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from using this • clearly label material where the copyright publication (in part or in whole) and any information or material is owned by a third party contained in it. • ensure that the third party has consented to this material being presented in this publication. Acknowledgements Permission may need to be obtained from third parties to re-use their material. This report details the outcomes of an enquiry by IP Australia and Data61 into potential changes in IP Australia’s operating © Commonwealth of Australia 2017 environment, and the implications of these for the agency. We would like to acknowledge the many individuals and organisations who kindly shared their time, resources and knowledge for the purposes of this work. We would especially like to thank the many national and international experts and stakeholders who participated in interviews or focus groups as part of the research to develop the megatrends and scenarios. 2 | IP AUSTRALIA AND THE FUTURE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOREWORD This report provides an exciting and challenging opportunity for us to consider the future of intellectual property (IP) in Australia, and IP Australia’s role in that future. Some readers will find aspects of it provocative, confronting and unsettling. The report is intended to have that impact. Its aim is to help us contemplate plausible future environments that IP Australia could be operating in, and to highlight some of the strategic choices that we will need to make. Many international and national experts and The scenarios are intended to describe ‘what might stakeholders, as well as staff from IP Australia, have be’, not ‘what is’. In doing so, they highlight a broad contributed to this report. I thank them for their scope of possibilities for Australia’s social, political involvement. We have worked closely with Data61 and economic future. The implications for Australia’s to develop the report and ensure the futures it IP system and for IP Australia are similarly diverse and explores are underpinned by relevant research and offer many possible directions. assumptions. The result is a report that envisages three very different, but arguably plausible, scenarios This report highlights strategic directions and choices that could describe our future operating environment. to underpin medium-term and long-term planning. I hope you find it to be an informative and provocative This report does not ignore the fact that Australia’s IP read, as we explore potential futures and ways to system operates within our international obligations navigate them. and legal framework. Furthermore, IP Australia’s place within the Australian Public Service means we will always be guided by the drivers and agenda of the Australian Government. But we have deliberately chosen not to confine the analysis to the realm of what seems probable. Exploring what is possible and plausible will better prepare us for an unknown future. Patricia Kelly PSM Director General IP Australia | 3 CONTENTS Foreword .............................................................................................................3 Executive Summary .............................................................................................5 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................9 IP Australia’s business idea ........................................................................................................................ 10 Current assessment and strategic questions ............................................................................................ 12 2 Megatrends ....................................................................................................17 Tangible Intangibles ................................................................................................................................... 18 A Small World ............................................................................................................................................ 19 Building a Wall ........................................................................................................................................... 20 An Era of Scepticism .................................................................................................................................. 21 Digital Transformation ............................................................................................................................... 23 3 Scenarios ....................................................................................................... 25 Scenarios framework ................................................................................................................................ 25 Home Advantage scenario ........................................................................................................................ 27 Renaissance scenario ................................................................................................................................ 30 Engaged scenario ...................................................................................................................................... 33 4 Strategic Implications ...................................................................................39 Home advantage: Strategic implications for IP Australia .......................................................................... 40 Renaissance: Strategic implications for IP Australia .................................................................................. 42 Engaged: Strategic implications for IP Australia ........................................................................................ 44 Core business ............................................................................................................................................ 50 Workforce planning ................................................................................................................................... 51 Accommodation ........................................................................................................................................ 52 Technology ................................................................................................................................................ 53 Value-added services ................................................................................................................................ 54 Revenue..................................................................................................................................................... 55 Enforcement .............................................................................................................................................. 56 Customer engagement .............................................................................................................................. 57 Organisational structure ........................................................................................................................... 58 Policy direction setting .............................................................................................................................. 59 International approach .............................................................................................................................. 60 5 Conclusion .....................................................................................................62