296. I am taking the floor on behalf of the LDC Group. We thank the proponents US, Switzerland, EU and Singapore for presenting this item for discussion and sharing their ideas to increase resources for innovation. We agree broadly with the general premise of the proposal, but we would caution against any one-size fits all approach, as the situation in developed and technologically advanced resource rich countries and the situation in LDCs are completely different. For example, availability of venture capital in LDCs and availability of venture capital in developed countries will be completely different unless the developed countries decide to provide to the LDCs. Since they have lots of priorities and very little resources and facilities, they do not have adequate allocation for any venture or adventure. We all know that innovation plays a vital role in the development of the socio economic scenario and the living standard of the people and we agree with the proponents on this premise and proposal.
297. However international standards and long-standing terms of intellectual property law do not always foster innovation everywhere in today's technologically advanced and interconnected world and they did not also play a similar role in the past. We consider that a strict intellectual property regime is not an essential prerequisite to promote innovation and technological diffusion when we examine and analyze the past history of development of the present developed countries. Intellectual property regimes and innovation propels the world to move further to a higher level of development, but unfortunately according to our experience, not all the countries of the world benefited from intellectual property and innovation in the same way. Less than expected growth, the process of globalization, and competition have raised the stakes for IP policy to overcome this adverse situation for LDCs. LDCs need to have a flexible policy and ambiance for promoting innovation as the promotion of innovation has become a key growth strategy for all nations irrespective of the level of development. However, availability of money or resources does not necessarily guarantee innovation, as we have seen that great innovations in history actually derived from human genius rather than availability of vast resources. So we feel that there is no natural inevitable correlation between IP and financing innovation, rather encouraging and flexible rules, regulation and ambiance and availability of proper facilities will largely contribute towards innovation and development.
298. We again thank the proponents for drawing our attention to a very important issue and we hope that all of us will gain from this free discussion on how to increase allocation for innovation without depleting scant resources that we have at our disposal.
