Every April 26, we celebrate World Intellectual Property Day to raise awareness of the role that intellectual property (IP) rights play in fostering innovation and creativity. World Intellectual Property Day 2022 recognizes the enormous potential of youth to find new and better solutions to support the transition to a sustainable future.
Youth around the world are meeting the challenges of innovation with energy, ingenuity, curiosity and creativity to lead the way to a better future. The innovative, dynamic and creative spirit helps drive the changes needed to move towards a more sustainable future and find the formula for intellectual property rights to help tomorrow's youth build a better future.
The theme of World Intellectual Property Day 2020 is "IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future", with the aim of celebrating youth-led innovation and creativity.
Today's youth are an incredible source of ingenuity and creativity that is rarely tapped. This generation comes with renewed perspectives, curiosity and energy, is confident of its potential and eager to build a better future, all of which is already changing existing approaches and driving action for change and innovation.
World Intellectual Property Day 2022 is an opportunity for youth to discover how IP rights can help them achieve their goals, turn their ideas into reality, generate income, create jobs and have a positive impact on the world around them. With IP rights, youth have access to some of the key tools they need to further their goals and ambitions.
The campaign will enable youth to gain a better understanding of how the tools of the IP system, namely trademarks, design rights, copyright, patents, plant breeders' rights, geographical indications and trade secrets, among others, can support their aspirations to build a better future.
WIPO's role in supporting national and regional efforts to create a legal and policy environment in which young inventors, creators and entrepreneurs can flourish is also closely examined.
Last year saw an unprecedented level of participation in World Intellectual Property Day. With your help, World IP Day 2022 will reach new heights.
Youth are the innovators, creators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Their creativity and ingenuity are driving change in every region and paving the way for a better future. World Intellectual Property Day 2022 pays tribute to this exciting generation of transformative agents.
Generation Z and millennials, the creators of tomorrow
Today's youth is an incredible source of creativity and ingenuity that has hardly been tapped. There are currently about 1.8 billion young people (under the age of 24) in the world. Ninety percent live in developing countries. The proportion of people under the age of 35 is expected to increase in the coming years. Youth is a natural transformative agent paving the way for a better future in all regions.
Millennials and Generation Z are transformative agents; they are pragmatic people who are not afraid to speak up and challenge the status quo. Today's youth are digital natives who have grown up in a connected world, with cell phones and the Internet, where the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds are blurred. All of this has shaped a generation that is arguably the most entrepreneurial, innovative and creative that has ever existed.
We call on all young people, wherever their aspirations lie (in the arts, science, technology, etc.), because a creative and innovative mindset backed by IP rights helps make a difference, to participate in this year's campaign and discover the benefits that IP can offer.
We ask policymakers around the world to listen to the needs and concerns of young inventors, creators and entrepreneurs and to develop policies and programs that nurture and support the work they do to innovate for a better future.
Source: WIPO
