Events

11 June 2010

Trade, Intellectual Property and the Knowledge Assets of Indigenous Peoples: The Developmental Frontier

Calls for papers

Wednesday 8th – Friday 10th December 2010

Knowledge assets have come to play an increasingly important role in global, regional and national markets. For indigenous people their traditional knowledge is a unique and multidimensional asset. Such assets offer developmental possibilities. If these developmental possibilities are to be realized new institutional and governance approaches will have to evolve that are responsive to the needs and preferences of indigenous peoples.

This conference will discuss the linkages between trade, intellectual property, traditional knowledge assets (including traditional cultural expressions) and the development aspirations of indigenous peoples. What are the broader institutional and governance issues that will need to be considered if flourishing indigenous business enterprises based on traditional knowledge assets are to become a reality? The conference aims to share
knowledge, ideas and experience of how markets and trade affect indigenous peoples and ways in which indigenous peoples might harness economic opportunities to benefit from and support their unique heritage of knowledge. The conference will have a particular focus on New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Australia.

We welcome proposals for papers within the conference theme and particularly in the following areas:

Innovation and traditional knowledge.

Government intervention/support and indigenous business enterprise.

The role of voluntary certification standards in indigenous business enterprise and development.

Particular business case studies to illustrate the pros and/or cons of trading in traditional knowledge assets.

The emerging international regime for traditional knowledge – how relevant to indigenous business development?

Trade rules and norms – how friendly towards indigenous business development?

Non-traditional governance structures for traditional knowledge development.

Please submit proposals to nzciel@vuw.ac.nz by 11 June 2010

Law

Organisation:

New Zealand Centre for Public Law Te Wānanga o ngā Kaupapa Ture ā Iwi o Aotearoa