Postcards from WIPO: What’s Ahead for IP in Geneva This Fall

I am pleased to introduce “Postcard from WIPO,” a new occasional series for the U.S. intellectual property community. Having spent much of my career working on IP issues in the United States, including as Deputy Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), I know how important it is to understand what is happening in the international IP system. From Geneva, I now have a different vantage point on that work, and I would like to share it with you.

This first postcard comes at an interesting moment: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has begun a new six-year term under Director General Daren Tang, who was appointed by Member States to serve a second term beginning October 1. His agenda for the next six years includes making the global IP system more accessible, strengthening WIPO’s global IP services, and ensuring that the system is prepared for the technologies and innovators of the future.

There is also good news to report about the United States. WIPO’s 2026 Global Innovation Index ranks the United States third in the world, behind Switzerland and Sweden. The United States ranks first globally in market sophistication and second in business sophistication, and it remains home to 20 of the world’s top 100 science and technology clusters. San Jose–San Francisco ranks third globally, and the United States continues to be one of the world’s strongest engines of innovation. The ranking also points to areas where there is room to improve, including labor productivity and infrastructure investment. For me, the broader point is that intellectual property remains an important part of the infrastructure that allows innovation to move from ideas and research into investment, products and economic value.

There is plenty on the agenda in the weeks ahead.

• On October 12, WIPO will announce the first WIPO City of Innovation award, recognizing cities that are making ambitious commitments to strengthen their innovation and creative ecosystems.
• On October 12–13, WIPO will bring together judges, policymakers, industry, practitioners and academics for its seminar on standard essential patents and dispute resolution, including discussions of FRAND licensing, litigation and alternative dispute resolution.
• Looking further ahead, the Global Forum on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence, November 9–10, will bring together Member States and stakeholders to examine the legal and policy questions emerging across patents, copyright, trademarks, designs and trade secrets.
• The November 24 edition of the IP Finance Dialogue “Banking on Intangibles: From Valuation to Financing” will focus on how IP is being transformed into a bankable asset for financing, featuring real-world projects and discussions on valuation, liquidity, and risk-sharing mechanisms.

These are only some of the conversations taking place across WIPO. In future postcards, colleagues from across the Organization and I will highlight developments, meetings and issues that are particularly relevant to the U.S. IP community. The objective is straightforward: to provide another way to stay connected to what is being discussed and decided here in Geneva, and to help make the international IP system a little less distant for those working with it every day.