Elisabeth Eppinger, Akriti Jain, Pratheeba Vimalnath, Anjula Gurtoo, Frank Tietze, Roberto Hernandez Chea, Sustainability transitions in manufacturing: the role of intellectual property, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 49, 2021, Pages 118-126,
ISSN 1877-3435.

Abstract: Intellectual property rights (IPR) form an important component for unlocking sustainable innovation. Research highlights both the positive role of IPR in incentivizing sustainable innovation and the negatives, such as delaying diffusion. We review the state-of-art debates on incentivizing sustainable innovations and the role of IPR for sustainable manufacturing industries, summarizing three main debates: the role of incumbents versus new entrants, cross-industry collaboration, and IPR obstacles to the circular economy. The arguments bring forth the need for IPR systems to structurally support organizations in their move towards sustainability, removing institutional difficulties for cross industry diffusion, and in-depth research of IPR challenges for the circular economy. We conclude with directions for research that can enable better informed decisions on IPR for sustainability transitions.

Read the full article open access here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.03.018