Open Education Week shines light on implementing UNESCO OER Recommendation best practices; UNESCO, March 20, 2023

UNESCO; Open Education Week shines light on implementing UNESCO OER Recommendation best practices

"Background: OER Dynamic Coalition and Open Education Week

Following the adoption of the UNESCO OER Recommendation by Member States at the 40th Session of the UNESCO General Conference in November 2019, the OER Dynamic Coalition was formed. The Dynamic Coalition’s goal is to assists governments in implementing the OER Recommendation by promoting and strengthening international and regional cooperation among all stakeholders in the first four areas of the UNESCO OER Recommendation. 

Open Education Week began in 2012 as a collaborative, community-built open forum by Open Education Global. Every year, OE Week raises awareness and celebrates innovative open education successes around the world."

Nursing unions around world call for UN action on Covid vaccine patents; The Guardian, November 29, 2021

 Peter Walker  , The Guardian; Nursing unions around world call for UN action on Covid vaccine patents

"Nursing unions in 28 countries have filed a formal appeal with the United Nations over the refusal of the UK, EU and others to temporarily waive patents for Covid vaccines, saying this has cost huge numbers of lives in developing nations.

The letter, sent on Monday on behalf of unions representing more than 2.5 million healthcare workers, said staff have witnessed at first hand the “staggering numbers of deaths and the immense suffering caused by political inaction”.

The refusal of some countries to budge on rules about intellectual property rights for vaccines had contributed to a “vaccine apartheid” in which richer nations had secured at least 7bn doses, while lower-income nations had about 300m, it argued."

U.S.-China Feud Ensnares Obscure UN Intellectual Property Agency; Bloomberg, February 16, 2020

Nick Wadhams, Bloomberg; U.S.-China Feud Ensnares Obscure UN Intellectual Property Agency

"“The race for WIPO leadership has become the moment the U.S. woke up to the fact China is eating our lunch in the multilateral system and that great-power competition will be fought out in many theaters, including UN agencies,” said Daniel Runde, the director of the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “WIPO may seem obscure, but it’s a standard-maker and holds hundreds of billions of our trade secrets in its digital vaults.”"

Why Is the U.S. Surrendering the Global IP System to China?; National Review, February 12, 2020

Tom Gionvanetti, National Review; Why Is the U.S. Surrendering the Global IP System to China?

"What a coup it will be for China to gain control over the global IP system at the same time that the U.S. is pressuring China over IP theft — and what a monumental miscalculation by those President Trump has trusted to further one of his key foreign-policy goals. Talk about playing the long game vs. the short game.

The election for WIPO’s top spot is on March 7. Candidates for the directorship remain from Japan, Singapore, and Colombia, and all of these would be superior choices from the perspective of the U.S. and other nations that create the kinds of innovative products that are targets of Chinese espionage and theft. But only immediate attention from the White House can prevent WIPO from becoming dominated by China, which would pose risks to the entire global IP system, and thus to U.S. security and innovation."

Professor Tells UN, Governments Of Coming “Tsunami” Of Data And Artificial Intelligence; Intellectual Property Watch, February 21, 2018

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; Professor Tells UN, Governments Of Coming “Tsunami” Of Data And Artificial Intelligence

"[Prof. Shmuel (Mooly) Eden of the University of Haifa, Israel] said this fourth revolution in human history is made up of four factors. First, computing power is at levels that were unimaginable. This power is what makes artificial intelligence now possible. The smartphone in your hand has 1,000 times the components of the first rocket to the moon, he said, which led to a chorus of “wows” from the audience.

Second is big data. Every time you speak on the phone or go on the internet, someone records it, he said. The amount of data is unlimited. Eden said he would be surprised if we use 2 percent of the data we generate, but in the future “we will.”

Third is artificial intelligence (AI). No one could analyse all of that data, so AI came into play.

Fourth is robots. He noted that they don’t always look like human forms. Most robots are just software doing some function...

 Eden ended by quoting a hero of his, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who told him: “Technology without ethics is evil. Ethics without technology is poverty. That’s why we have to combine the two.”

Eden challenged the governments, the UN and all others to think about how to address this rapid change and come up with ideas.

He challenged the governments, the UN and all others to think about how to address this rapid change and come up with ideas. Exponentially."

US Congressional Hearing On WIPO Accountability This Week; Intellectual Property Watch, 2/22/16

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; US Congressional Hearing On WIPO Accountability This Week:

"Several subcommittees of the United States Congress have scheduled a joint hearing this week on accountability and possible mistreatment of staff and whistleblowers at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization. The witness list for the hearing includes several high-level critics of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry who used to work for him. Meanwhile, observers are questioning what has happened to the report from an official UN investigation of WIPO.

The Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Establishing Accountability at the World Intellectual Property Organization: Illicit Technology Transfers, Whistleblowing, and Reform, is scheduled for Wednesday, 24 February. The hearing is expected to be publicly webcast."